Sword Art Online - The Unexpected Hero
by YoshidaEiji
Summary: We all know the story of the famed Black Swordsman, but what about some of the other characters? Please enjoy this story of Sword Art Online, told in the perspective of an original character.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

My eyes bulged open into a dark room, the only light being from the alarm clock, it's green numbers displaying the time.

It was 12:00 A.M. I stared at the time, as if the clock was snickering at the fact that I was so restless tonight, but who could help it? Today was the day that Sword Art Online will be released to the public. Seeing that I wasn't going to fall back asleep anytime soon, I went ahead and climbed out of bed, and prepared to take my shower.

I tilted my head under the running water, to wash off my face, but mainly to help wake up. That's when my phone rang, indicating I had a text message.

"Who could be up this late?"

I stepped out of the shower, dried off my short, black hair, and checked my messages.

"From Sarah: You still awake? I can't sleep."

I dressed myself, and laid back in bed before answering, "Yeah, I can't sleep either". I sent the message and placed the phone onto my chest, staring at the alarm clock once more, it was 12:30 A.M. now.

"Did she fall back asleep?" I couldn't help but wonder. I stared at the black ceiling, normally, you can see the white wood it's made of, but all I saw was the black shadow where it should be. Eventually, due to sheer boredom, my eyes became heavy, and I slowly drifted to sleep.

I woke up to a slight vibration on my chest, followed by my usual text notification, I checked my phone and saw that it was Sarah again.

"Sorry, must have fallen asleep, did you want to talk?"

I looked at the clock, it was 2:30 A.M. I decided that we might as well stay awake. I pressed reply, with my thumb and typed on the touch keyboard-

"Yeah, that sounds good. It doesn't look like I'll be falling asleep anytime soon."

She responded to my text by calling my phone.

"Hey!" My voice was lower than usual, and not very energetic. "What's up Sarah?"

"You sound like you just woke up!" Sarah giggles. Even though it's so early in the morning, Sarah still sounds like her normal, cheerful self, that I've known for the longest time.

"Yeah, I must have fallen asleep waiting for your reply."

Sarah giggles again. "We haven't talked this late in a long time, huh?" Though I couldn't see her face, I could tell she was probably smiling on the other side of the phone.

"That's right, the last time we were on the phone this late, was when we were waiting for the flight to Japan!" I couldn't help but laugh here.

"I'm really glad we were able to come here!" Sarah let out a sigh.

"I am too."

Sarah and I met back in Middle School. We lived in America at the time, and we both really loved Japan and wanted to go there someday.

"Hey... James"

"Yes?" Normally when she calls me by my name with that tone, she usually says something about our past.

"Remember that day, back at Middle School, where we talked about Japan."

"What about it?" Right on the money.

"When we talked about coming to Japan one day, I never dreamed it would happen!"

"Same here, it's amazing how much has changed since then!"

We lived in the same neighborhood, and went to the same classes together. During lunch, we'd always talk about the latest Mass of Multiplayer Online game (MMO) we were playing.

"that player we met with the other day... He sure was helpful!" Sarah had started while drinking her milk. "If he hadn't had showed us that rare spawn of monsters, we may have been doing that quest for at least a few more days!" She giggles at the thought.

I had just finished my food. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. "Actually, that player, Jace, friended me after that."

"really?! How come he didn't friend me?" Sarah questioned, slamming her empty milk carton.

"That's because you logged off and went to bed early!" I laughed, drinking my own milk carton.

She pouted. "That's because we had tests today..." she looked down, then back to me. "Speaking of, how do you think you did? She smirked.

"Ehhh... I'll cross that bridge when I get there." I took a minute to gather my thoughts. "Anyway, that aside, Jace and talked to each other on Skype. Turns out he lives in Japan. He called himself Mike."

"Really?! Wouldn't there be conflicting time-zones?"

"Mike didn't seem to care." I shrugged.

"Still, my dad visited Japan and told great stories about it!" She started going off again on the many stories her dad had told her, about Japan's rich culture, the amazing places to visit, and the pictures of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I just closed my eyes and smiled. "Say, James, let's go there someday! Even if it's for a visit. Let's go to Japan!"

"I'd love that." I smiled.

The rest of our school days and other times to talk would not just be about MMO's, but also about Japan. This went on for a few months before that day...

I just wish," Sarah began talking, bringing me back to reality, "that my parents were here to see me now..." Sarah's voice became weak, and trembled a little with those last words.

"Do you want to come over to my room?" I finally asked.

"Yeah." A little later, the door knob turned as Sarah walked in, her normally cheery face was hidden behind tear filled eyes, her brown hair, falling into her face. When she stepped into the room, I could tell she was wearing a long shirt that went to around half way between her waist and knees. Her pale, white skin, glowed in the darkness. Though she was upset, I couldn't help but admire her beauty, as she wrapped her arms around me, and buried her head in my chest.

"It'll be alright," I brushed her hair to help comfort her. "You're safe here."

She gave a weak nod. "Can I sleep with you, tonight?"

I replied by rubbing her back, and when her eyes met mine, I nodded. We stayed in each other's arms for a couple of minutes before she gently pushed away, and made herself comfortable in my bed; and fell fast asleep.

It was 7:00 A.M. now, and I woke to the sound of my alarm. I quickly shut it off, stretched, and got ready to leave.

I heard a small groan. "Is it time already?" A half-asleep Sarah sat up in my bed and looked around. "Morning, James"

"Morning, Sarah. You should head back to your room and get ready, Mike should already be in line for us!"

It was as if those words were magic because-

"OH CRAP! You're right!" She quickly got out of bed and dashed for her room.

Once I finished getting ready, my phone vibrated, it was Mike.

"Yo."

"'Yo' I've been waiting in line since yesterday for you two and all you can say is 'yo'?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, if it were just me, I would have, but you know how Sarah can get..."

"Yeah... You're right about that. So, were you doing some... 'interesting' things last night?" From the tone of his voice, I could only assume he meant something sexual.

"No! Nothing like THAT!"

Mike laughed, "Relax, Man! I'm just kidding with you! But from your reaction it does sound like something like that is going on!" He laughed some more. "Anyway, stop doing whatever you are doing with her, and get your asses in line!" He hung up before I could defend myself.

"Was that Mike?" Sarah walked into the room, wearing her favorite black shirt with, "For the Horde" in big red letters, with a black skirt, and leggings combo. Everyone back at school said that she should dress more, "lady-like" but I really enjoyed this look on her.

"Yeah, it was." I decided to wear a simple white polo shirt, black jeans, and my black leather jacket. "He's starting to get tired of waiting for us, so we'd better go find him."

"Alright."

"About TIME you two showed up!" Mike held a spot for us in line, along with Ashley.

"Mike you shouldn't be so rude, I'm sure they both needed a long shower to get ready!" Ashley finished her remark with her tongue sticking out at us. It was very obvious that these two got along very well.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" Must have been why you were so groggy this morning!" He let out a loud laugh. "Anyway, what happened last night aside," I could tell that Sarah was getting a little mad from his comments, but I ignored it. He's always been this way, always will be. It's just who he is. "I've been reading alot on the NerveGear and about the game! This'll be like no other experience in the world!"

No experience in the world, huh? These words continues to echo inside my thoughts.

"So, whenever we log into the game, we should meet up South West of the starting point, like we do in all MMO's. We should also try and master different types of skills, so that we can remain a balanced group."

The reason why Mike had so much knowledge, was because he's the type of gamer who tries to look up all the information he can about the games he's interested in, so when something as astounding as Sword Art Online was announced, Mike would constantly check the updates and the Beta testers notes that were available to the public.

After a long talk about what to expect from the game, I was back in my room, going through the calibration process. Mike told me that I should do this immediately, then set up my avatar, so that when the servers opened for public at 1:00, we'd be all set!

It was 12:58. The minutes felt like hours, as I waited for it to be 1:00. A whole new game, system, and story would await me. The joy of falling in love with a virtual world is one of the main reasons I love playing RPG's! And trying to stay caught up with Mike is always a hassle by itself!

I laughed to myself a little to the thought. It's true, Mike always finds the best spots to grind for Experience Points (EXP), or rare drops. 'course he always finds the spots, but when it comes to fighting... He's not so good.

As I was thinking back to the previous games I played with my friends, the clocked ticked 1:00. It was time to Dive. I took a deep breath, and issued the command to get the game started-

"Link Start!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

The screen sprang to life, logged myself on, then went through a few system tests, before I was greeted by a gray screen with black letters.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online"

The next thing I knew, I was staring at the tiled floor, and at my black boots. I then looked at my hands, to see that they, too, were the gloves that I chose for my avatar. I was overwhelmed with the perfect 3-D world I was witnessing! I had heard that it would utilize all five senses, but I didn't think it actually could. Already, I could feel the ground beneath my feet, and smell the rich aroma of delicious foods. I couldn't wait to taste it.

"Hey, over heeeere!" I looked to the South West of me and saw someone waving at me. I knew it was Mike, because he always uses the same types of Avatars. He makes them look badass, and always have a good amount of red. The last time we played a game together, I made that comment and he replied with, 'it's so you can instantly recognize me'. Well, I've yet to fail to see him, so I guess it works.

I tried to run over to them, at first it felt a little awkward trying to run with just my mind, instead of the usual WASD, but I eventually got the hang of it, and ran over to my comrades.

"Glad you could make it!" Then a window appeared in front of me.

"Accept Jace's friend request?" Then there were two buttons. A red "X" and a blue circle. It was obvious that the circle was accept, so I pressed it with my finger, and the menu went away. Once this happened I could see Jace's name over his health bar, but surprisingly, not his level. Then, almost immediately, another box appeared from nowhere.

"Jace invites you to join his party" Once again I click accept and then two more names appear. Elena, (Sarah) and Alexis (Ashley).

"You should probably friend Elena and Ashley" I swiped my finger and thumb to access the menu, and with the assistance from Jace, I was able to send friend requests to Elena and Alexis.

"So," Alexis started, "How do I look?" She spun around so that I could get a good look of her. She too had her signature style, but hers was straight, red hair, that went down half way down her back.. She was wearing a black shirt and skirt, followed by a red jacket. The combination didn't look all too great, but she wanted her and Jace to match.

"You look great!" I lied. This was the normal pattern, every game we play. Then-

"How about me?" Elena jumped down from the rock she was sitting on, and also spun around. Now Elena always takes pride in her avatars, making them absolutely gorgeous! This time, she had long brown hair, tucked behind her ears, a pretty blue tunic, paired with light brown leggings.

"As amazing as always!" I responded. Elena could only blush to my comment.

"And you're flirty as always, Jin!" Jace remarked. Now I couldn't help but blush a bit. "Anyway, now that we're all here, we should go out and get some EXP!" We all cheered and headed out of the gate as a party of four. "Now remember, guys, the EXP system is calculated by the amount of Hit Points (HP) your opponent has, so we need to take turns fighting off monsters so that we can level at a steady pace."

As always, Jace knows most of everything about the game before we begin.

"Also, just to be clear, if there's ever a rare item dropped-"

We cut him off in unison, "It goes to the player whom it would benefit the best." It was a simple, yet important rule. We always try and keep balance within our group, so when a peice of equipment is dropped, it's always to the person that needs it the most. Jace also added that people get greedy and will take rare items to sell. This helps get rid of that.

"Well, since that's taken care of, let's go!" Jace bolted towards the nearest boar. He raised his sword to about shoulder length, then his sword glowed, and dashed at the boar hitting him dead on, causing the boar's HP to drop to the yellow.

Jace had explained that the HP bar changes color depending on the amount of HP remaining. It starts green, and stays that way until it drops to the middle. Once there, 50%, the color changes to yellow, red at 25%, and finally starts blinking at 15% and lower.

"What was THAT!" Alexis screeched. As always, Jace shows the coolest ability available at level one, and shows it off.

"That, my dear Alexis, was a Sword Skill. These are the main abilities we use to fight the monsters in the game. That one was "Sonic Leap"!" Jace smirked.

"That's awesome!" Jace did a few vertical strikes, and once the boar reached zero HP, it shattered into thousands of pieces, and eventually disappeared. Another boar was approaching us, and I charged for it this time.

"Now, Jin, the trick to combat is to let the system do everything for you. You just have to raise your sword as if you were going to do a technique, then the game takes care of the rest for you."

"I see..." I raised up my sword, to my shoulder as Jace did, and noticed the sword glowed, then I just let released control of my sword allowing the system to take care of the rest, and my body was sent straight toward the boar, stabbing right through it. "Wow! That was awesome!"

"I know right!" Jace was smiling, "This truly is, a revolutionary way to experience video games!"

We ended up grinding for hours, and for the first time playing an MMO, I didn't mind grinding for EXP, because the fights felt so real!

"Hey, guys," Jace started. "look at the time." I opened up my menu, which I was getting much better at navigating through, and noticed that was about 5:30. "It's starting to get late, should we log off and call it a night?"

It was Elena, who surprised me, "Are you kidding?! We stayed up later playing browser based MMO's! Don't tell me you actually want to stop playing one as immersive as this?!" After she yelled at Jace, she quickly looked away to hide her blush.

I walked over to Elena, "She's right, we should play longer! We should take this opportunity to advance as far as we can!" I smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Let's continue grinding a little longer, then!" We all cheered once more.

I've noticed, that when Elena (Sarah) plays an MMORPG, she's a completely different person then how she is in the real world. IRL, she's a quiet girl, who's always clinging on me for protection. But in the Virtual worlds we've visited over the years, she's a strong willed woman, who does anything to protect the party, and to ensure our safety. More times than I can count, she has saved us by pulling off some heroic deed by pulling aggro at just the right time, or healing right when it counts. It was this side of her, that I've grown attached to over the years, and because this virtual world is so immersive, so is this amazing woman, who's avatar stands before me.

Jace, and Alexis went off to fight a few more boars, and Elena took the opportunity to thank me.

"It's nothing," I tried acting all cool. "I've noticed that you really get into games, so I wanted you to be able to play more."

"Yeah, though I appreciate Alexis' company, I'm afraid all she does is fanboy over Jace."

"So you've noticed too..."

"Yeah. I have." We stood silent after that, and listened to the BGM (BackGround Music) of the area.

"You know," I finally said to break the silence, "I never really payed attention to the BGM till just now. It's really nice!"

"It sure is!" Elena smiled, and my heart skipped a beat.

"HEY!" Jace yelled, "Are you going to grind or what?!"

"Yeah, yeah! We're coming!" I replied. "Should we go?" I extending my hand out to Elena, with a smile.

She nodded. "Of course!"

As we walked toward Jace, we heard a loud bell, and simultaneously, the BGM turned off.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"Wh-what's going on?!" Alexis seemed frightened. For once, I was scared too. Then a sudden blue light appeared, and the fields we've been in for hours began to melt away, to instead be replaced by the tiles that I stared at hours ago. We were teleported back to the Starting City. Which I later learned, was the Town of Beginnings

"Is everyone here?" This time it was me who acted first, instead of Jace. I looked around and counted all three members of my party. I let out a sigh of relief, but only briefly. "Say, Jace, what's going on here?" But what I saw in Jace, was something I've never seen in him before... Fear.

"Jace?" Alexis noticed too. "Are you alright."

"I don't understand... What's going on here?" Jace was really afraid. Then, there was a red shape in the sky with three black words on it.

"Warning: System Announcement"

Then the sky was covered with these shapes, and a black figure emerged from the center. He was much taller than the rest of us, and wore a long cloak, but we couldn't see his face.

"Players, I welcome you to my world!" His deep voice bellowed across the whole city.

"My name is Kayaba Akihiko. Right now, I am the only person who can control this world."

I noticed Jace shaking even more now. I remember hearing the name from somewhere, but I can't recall exactly where.

"Most of you have discovered that the Logout button has disappeared from the Main Menu. This is not a bug, but is a part of Sword Art Online's System!"

"The Logout button!" I quickly opened my menu and searched for the button, and sure enough, it was gone. "But why?!"

"The only way to log yourself out," Kayaba continues, "is to clear the top floor"

"All 100 floors?!" Jace yelled, "That's crazy!"

"...Also, disrupting or dismantling the NerveGear from the outside is strictly forbidden. If it is attempted, then the signal sensors will emit a strong electromagnetic pulse, destroying your brain."

"Jace is this true?!" Elena asked, who grabbed onto me for support.

He simply nodded. "Yes. The NerveGear works like a microwave, so it's very possible to fry our brains..." He stood silent in complete fear.

"Sadly 213 players have already exited this game, and the real world forever.

Even I started to shake at the thought... 213 players... That's insane! It's too much!

"Now, there is no need to worry about the bodies you left on the other side. As of now, the media is spreading the word not to disrupt the NerveGears. Also, I'll have a two hour break, where your bodies will be transported to hospitals so you can focus on clearing the game.

Elena began to sob a little, and I brushed her hair back, on the verge of tears myself. I glance over to Jace who was also shaking madly.

"Finally, Sword Art Online is a second reality, if your HP drops to zero, you will die, and consequently, the sensor's will fry your brain. The only way to leave the game, is to clear all one hundred floors."

Jace sank to his knees, Alexis in his arms. This was truly too much. My mind was filled with different emotions, the hatred for Kayaba, the fear for my life, the lives of my friends, and the unbearable thought of losing them...

"Now to show you evidence that this is the the only reality, I have given each of you a gift."

I checked my menu, and accept the incoming gift. It was a hand mirror. It formed into my hands, and I looked into the mirror to see the avatar I picked for myself. The other players were doing the same thing. Then, all the players were engulfed in blue light, and emerged differently. I looked at Elena who was next to me, and her equipment was the same, but her face was the one I knew, and saw just a few hours ago, it wasn't the beautiful Elena looking at me, but Sarah. I checked the mirror, and sure enough, the image of messy black hair, and scruffy chin was mocking me... What is going on here?

"Now why have I, Kayaba Akihiko, developer of Sword Art Online, and the NerveGear be doing this? The answer, is to create and watch this world.

... Now I have finished the official tutorial for Sword Art Online. Players-I wish you luck." Then the giant figure melted back into the space from which it came, and the red went away, revealing the blue sky once more.

3...2...1... All the players began to panic, and try effortlessly to leave the game. Jace guided Alexis, Elena, and me out of there, and back to where we were training.

"It looks like... This isn't a game anymore..."

"No, it doesn't..." Elena started, "But that shouldn't mean we should lose hope! As long as we stick together, and be sure to stay safe at all costs, we should be fine, and be able to clear this game!"

Jace looked at Elena and smiled, I couldn't help but admire her bravery as well. "You're right! We shouldn't give up!"

"Jace," it was Alexis' turn to speak. "I know I've been a hindrance before... But, our lives are truly on the line here... So I'll do my best, to be sure I can be an asset!

"Alexis..." Jace became a little teary-eyed. I suppose it was my turn now.

"Listen, we've done some incredible things, with the amazing group we have. We have an excellent team, and an even greater bond between us. As long as we remember that, we should have no problem going through this game!"

This time, not only did Jace smile at me, but Alexis and Elena became a little teary-eyed as well.

"Then it's settled." Jace wiped a tear from his eyes. "We'll stick together, train, and clear this game!"

We all pumped our fists in the air once more, this was the start of our adventure together, no... Our new lives.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I woke up to the alarm I had set for myself. Looking at the ceiling, I remembered that I had slept in the inn. Though it has used quite a bit of money renting rooms every night, Jace would just reply with 'You can't put a price on safety'. It was 7:30 A.M. Jace, our party leader, wanted us all up and ready to train at 8:00. It's been about a month since the game began, and we've already leveled up quite a bit.

I stretched out my arms and got out of bed. Though this game is a life or death situation, I've been getting used to the system now. Jace told us that night.

"Though we usually fight monsters our level, in order to get good EXP before, we should, due to the fact that their isn't a graveyard to respawn from, we should just stick with a certain level gap. That way, when we reach the higher floors, there will be a higher chance of us surviving. Not only will monsters get tougher, but another general rule in MMORPG's is that monsters also tend to be aggroed easier, and in groups. Even if we were par with one of them, we wouldn't do so well against a group of them..." Jace paused to catch his breath, or perhaps, catch his thoughts and to hold back his emotions. "I believe," he continued. "that we should stay, roughly ten levels higher than the levels of the floor we are on. Though it'll be tedious, and it will make leveling up even longer than it usually takes, it's the best safety precaution we can take at the moment."

'Course, that being said... we're now at least twelve or thirteen levels higher now, and we still haven't found the boss. Occasionally, we'd join a huge group of players in the dungeon, but that doesn't happen very often. However, today we were to attend a meeting, held by these people.

There was a soft knock at the door, "Jin, you ready?" I could tell that it was Elena.

"Yeah, hold on." I opened my menu and double checked to be sure I had my equipment at full durability, and that I had plenty of healing crystals and potions. After I found everything to be in order, I opened the door to see Elena wearing her casual tunic. I was wearing casual clothing myself.

Something that our group always did whenever playing MMORPG's, was taking off our armor, and un-equipping weapons while in town. Thanks to the fact that players can't be damaged in town, even in this death game, we have still continued our tradition.

"Good morning, Jin!" Elena smiled, her hands held behind her back.

"Morning, Elena!" I smiled back.

"Did you sleep well?"

"A little. I've started sleeping better now."

"That's great to hear!" Elena laughed. "Come on, Jace is waiting for us downstairs."

Elena began to descend down the stairs, and I followed.

"Ah, now that everyone is present, "Jace began, "I believe it is time to join the main party in finding the boss room. I believe that as long as we stick to the routine we have practiced, we should be able to handle whatever situation is thrown at us. Also," he had a short pause, "if we do find the boss, we should be careful to see what we're facing. We don't want anyone dying on us!" Jace smiled.

The rest of us smiled as well. Jace acknowledged that we were at the level of the top players right now. This really made us feel good.

"Finally, once we clear the first boss, we should celebrate by forming a guild!" We all pumped our fists in the air.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" I know I sounded a little rude, but my blood was pumping. Normally, Jace doesn't give such inspiring speeches, and it moved me a lot! Perhaps there's still hope in this world afterall!

Jace just smiled at me. "Couldn't have said it better myself!" He looked at all of us. "Move-out!" We all left the inn, sprinting towards the gate, with smiles on our face for the first time since that announcement. We were ready, and able.

We arrived at the meeting spot, and a few players had already gathered. There was one person who was talking to the rest. As we stepped closer, we heard some shocking information.

"Okay, let's get started people! Thank you for coming today. My name is Diabel, I'd like to consider my "job" as Knight.

I had to laugh at the Final Fantasy reference.

Then he got serious. "Today, our party found the boss room at the top of the tower"

The audience, including our party, was very interested now.

"We need to defeat the boss, reach the second floor, and tell everyone waiting in the Town of Beginnings that it is possible to beat this game. Everyone present here, shares this duty! Do you all agree?"

Everyone began to nod, I myself nodded in agreement. Then someone clapped, and everyone cheered.

"Alright, then let us begin our planning. First, divide into parties of six. An ordinary party has no chance against a floor boss. We'll need to form a raid group using multiple parties."

I looked at Jace, "We only have four people, should we do what he says, or should we just stay as four?"

Jace thought about it for a moment, before he finally said, "Can you trust another player to make sure you're safe?" At first, his statement shocked me, but as I thought about it, he was right. Too many times we'd party with players who'd aggro too many monsters, or fled and left us to die in previous MMO's. Though it was just an annoyance before, it's different here. In this game of life and death, one is literally trusting their lives with the people they party with... With that said, we all decided to stay as our group of four and left.

"Listen, lately we've been allowing each player to solo the simple monsters up to this point. However," Jace had a serious tone in his voice, "that won't always work on the tougher monsters, so we should spend today, practicing the "Switch" technique."

"Switch technique?" I wasn't sure what Jace was talking about, but I knew that the information he was sharing was correct.

"Yes. Apparently, in Sword Art Online, the AI will act, depending on the different Sword Skills you use. At the lower levels like now, it probably won't make much of a difference, but in the higher levels, or bosses, where the AI is significantly better, it's a different story, easily predicting your attacks, and attacking when you're weak and vulnerable. Now then, because the AI acts on the different Sword Skills, what would happen if one were to, change to a completely different array of Sword Skills? The answer is simple, the AI has to take a brief hesitation in order to act to the new Sword Skill. This small hesitation gives just enough time, to deal some serious damage to the monster." We all were very impressed with his findings. "As great as this sounds, not all the AI, and especially the bosses, will have to hesitate. But that's alright, considering that if the "Switch" is done correctly, not only will there be a chance for the monster to hesitate, but there should also be an opening. Like this." Jace beckoned me to come forward.

"Jace, I'm not going to actually hit you, but I need you to act as if I did." I nodded. I trusted Jace with my life, we've been together playing MMORPG's before I even came to Japan. "Now hold your sword in a ready position." I held my sword out in front of me. "Now, if the boss were doing the same thing, all I'd have to do is," He hit my sword in such an angle that caused me to have my sword way over my head, creating an obvious weak spot to my defences. "now, Elena, you'd come in, right at this point, and attack the monster, or boss, with your strongest Sword Skill. The timing can be tricky at times, especially at higher levels, that's why we should master it now, while there's next to no danger of dying."

Jace can be absolutely brilliant at times, but I have to wonder how he's still getting information, even though he's been trapped in the game. I'll have to ask him at some point.

"Well then, let's practice!" We cheered and split to groups of two. Jace and Alexis, and myself with Elena.

"Let's do our best, Jin!" Elena smiled.

I nodded. "Always."

The, irritated boar was charging at me, normally I would use a Sword Skill at this point, but because I'd one-shot it, I just used a simple vertical attack upwards, in order to create the same effect. Right when the sword hit, and the boar began to lean upwards with the momentum, I yelled "switch" and quickly got out of the way, so that Elena could hit it with a Sword Skill. We did this for about an hour, before we both high-fived each other.

"Say, Jin?" Elena was making direct eye-contact.

"Yeah?" I couldn't help but look back into her eyes.

"Though I'm trapped in a game where I could possibly die... I'm glad it's with you." She smiled, wiping away the single tear that left her eye.

"Huh?!" I acted too quickly, and didn't sound very cool at all.

Elena giggled, "It's nothing" Then she walked over to me and embraced me. "Nothing at all"

We met back up with Jace and Alexis, it was getting closer to 10:00 P.M, now, and we were exhausted.

"Let's head back to the inn and call it a night, shall we?" Jace asked the party. We all answered by nodding our heads, walked back to the inn, and had some food.

Though you don't actually eat food, your mind still believes that you are eating, which removes the feeling of hunger. The inn's food is a little bland, much like the cafeteria food, but there are some foods that just tastes amazing. I don't know what's more incredible, the taste of the food, or the fact that I can taste it inside a game. Finally, I decided to be amazed by both equally.

"I can't wait till tomorrow." Jace started, interrupting my thoughts. "The day we fight the first boss, and hopefully clear the first floor! Once we can clear this floor, I'm sure a lot more players will have some of their faith returned. That this isn't some death trap, and that we'll all see the real world again, someday!"

The real world... I've starting thinking about it less and less. Honestly, I'm completely happy here, with my friends. You guys are my world.

"Well, I guess that's all for tonight. We should be sure to get plenty of rest for tomorrow. G'night" With a casual wave, we all stood up and began walking off.

"Say, Jace?" I stayed with Jace while the others went to bed.

"What's up, Jin?"

"I was wondering... I know before, whenever we played MMORPG's, when we weren't playing, you were constantly looking up information about the game, so that we could get through parts that we might have gotten stuck at. However, It's been a month now, and yet, you're still getting new tips and tricks that you're sharing with us... How?"

Jace shrugged. "In the items shop, there's a free item. It's a guide with all the information that beta testers gave to us."

"Is it really that simple...?"

Jace simply nodded. "Yeah it is... But I still don't like it. You're right, normally I do look up everything I can. But here... I can't... I have to rely on figuring things out while on the field. Though it isn't too hard of a task, there's still the possibility of death, if we don't solve a puzzle right away, or find the certain monster's weakness in enough time... When I think of that..." Jace shudders a little and looks away. "I feel... Like I'm not as much as a help as I can be."

"That's not true. You're still a huge help, and you're still a part of the team! We can't do this without you!"

"The thing is..." His voice barely audible, "I think you can... I'm not that great of a fighter, I'm only good for information, and because I can't get the information as easily as I usually do... I'm more of a hindrance than Alexis." So he's noticed too...

"Jace. We've been friends for years. You're never a hindrance. Just your company, helps give us the strength to continue on. Even if what you say is true, and you believe you can't get more information, and that you aren't the best fighter, just hearing your words of inspiration, and cheering us on as we go, is a tremendous help. I could even say, that it's even greater of a help then the information you always give us!" I smiled at my last remark.

"You're right, Jin." He smiled in return. "I am a part of this group after all." He looked up, tears falling from his eyes. "Well, it's late. We should head to bed ourselves. Goodnight, Jin." He began to walk upstairs and opened the door to his room. I did the same, opening the door to mine.

"Goodnight, Jace."

That night, though I was anticipating the boss fight tomorrow, I surprisingly fell asleep quickly, and easily, and stayed asleep the entire night. It was the best sleep I've had in months.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

I woke up at 8:00 A.M. Normally, I'd be groggy and would fight to get out of bed, but today was different. I quickly got out of bed, and checked my equipment, though I was full of energy, I was still careful to be sure that my equipment had plenty of durability, and that I had plenty of healing potions and crystals. This has already become my normal routine, but today I was being extra careful.

Because today, we are going to fight the first boss!

There was a knock at my door. "Come in!" Elena walked in wearing her normal tunic and leggings. "Morning Elena!" I smiled.

"Morning Jin!" Elena smiled back. "You seem in a good mood! Did you sleep well?"

"Surprisingly, yes!" I smiled. "Normally I can't sleep due to anticipation, but I honestly can't remember the last time I slept this well! It's a good thing too, wouldn't want to be groggy during a boss battle."

Elena giggled. "That's true! Well, we should probably meet up downstairs!" She walked out of the room, and I followed.

Jace was in the middle of the room with Ashley, and beckoned us over there. "Normally I'd give a good speech right now, but I believe we're all ready to go, so let's just go out there, and whip the boss' ass!"

We cheered and ran out of the building, and into the dungeon, where we'd meet up with the other players.

All the players gathered around the pair of double doors, that towered our avatars. Diabel said a few words of encouragement before we all charged into the room. Once we were all in, we saw a giant beast emerge from thin air, as well as a few minions with it. His choice of attack was a club and buckler.

"Remember, our job is to take care of those minions!" Jace reminded us.

"Right! Elena?" We made eye contact, and she nodded. Instantly, I charged at the minion, using my Sword Skill to knock it's blade upward.

"Switch!" Elena rushed in and slashed the minion dealing about 40% of it's health, then it retaliated and swung right at her, pushing her back in my direction.

"ELENA!" I screamed and caught her. "Are you okay?!"

Her health was down to the yellow. "Relax, I'm only barely in the yellow, it's only once I'm in the red, that you should get worried." She winked, and I blushed.

"Uh, guys, I hate to intrude on your "love scene" but we're currently facing a boss here! This isn't some manga you know!" Jace snarked as he sliced a minion with a Sword Skill.

"R-Right!" I got up, and charged at the monster again. "Elena, once you hit the monster, you need to hit his sword up, so that I can attack him. We take turns that way!"

"Okay" she replied, and I attacked the monster, then used a Sword Skill to create an opening again.

"Switch!" Elena rushed into position, attacked the minion with her Sword Skill, followed by using a different one to create an opening for me.

"Switch!" Elena yelled, and I charged at the monster with my best Sword Skill. Once the blade hit, the monster let out a terrible scream, and shattered into thousands of pieces. "We did it!" Elena was practically jumping for joy, and I gave her a high-five.

"We're not out of this yet!" Jace reminded us, while finishing off the minion he was attacking. "We still have the bo-"

The boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, let out a loud roar, drowning out Jace's words, before throwing down his club and buckler, and pulling out a giant blade with two sharp points at the tip. Then, Diabel charged towards the boss, Sword Skill at the ready, but he wasn't ready for the what happened next.

"Get Back!" A player with short, messy, black hair shouted from the sides.

The boss started to jump off the walls, and was directly above Diabel, before coming down with a hard attack, sending him flying off against the wall.

"Diabel!" That same player rushed over to him, handing him a health potion, though I couldn't hear what was going on, I could tell that he was denying the potion, and died in his arms. Then he got up and a girl covered in a brown cloak went next to him. I could only assume she was a part of his party.

"We'll do this like we did the minions" He said.

"Right!" The mysterious girl responded. The girl quickly attacked the boss, creating an opening. The boss swung his sword low, just barely missing the mysterious girl, knocking off her cloak revealing her long, straight, chestnut hair.

"Switch!" The guy yelled and attacked the boss everything he had, once the Sword Skill was complete, we all watched the boss' HP drop to zero. It was over, and the whole room was filled in silence. Then, text emerged from nowhere displaying, "Congratulations" and everyone cheered!

"We did it Jin!" Elena hugged me, and I wrapped my arms around her in return.

"We sure did!" I smiled.

"Good work you two!" Jace walked towards us, and gave me a high-five. "Oh, and we got a good drop from the minions. A cloak that increases your defense. I thought you'd benefit most from it, considering you usually go for defense. That being said, you should get a shield." Jace smiled giving me the cloak. It was a simple black cloak, but I wore it with pride.

"Looks like the adventure is just beginning!" Alexis stated. This surprised everyone, Alexis, who normally just clings to Jace, was actually trying to be apart of the group.

"It sure looks like it!" Jace smiled.

"But why?!" A player yelled. "You knew that the monster was using a different technique, why'd you let Diabel die?! You must have been a beta tester!"

The player from before laughed. "Beta tester?" His voice low, filled with hatred. "Don't ever compare me to those noobs! They didn't even know how to level, you're better than they were. I progressed farther than all the beta testers. I knew the boss' technique because I fought monsters much stronger that used katanas!"

"Cheater! Cheater! You were a beta tester and a cheater! Beater!"

"Beater? Yes, I like that!" He smiled while pulling up his menu. "Let it be known, that I'm not like all the other beta testers!" He put on a black jacket that went down to his ankles and started walking towards the stairs.

"Who was that?" I questioned a nearby player.

"That's Kirito. He's a Beater, so you shouldn't trust him."

"Kirito, huh?" Elena repeated. "He seems really strong..."

"Nah! True strength lies in friendship! We're much stronger than he is!" Though I said this, I too, thought he was really strong...

"And don't forget, a general rule of RPG's is that as you progress farther in the game, the monsters become more difficult, to the point that you need a party just to be able to grind all the excellent EXP spots. Because no one will trust him, he'll have a much harder time than we will!" Jace smiled. "Anyway, lets not dwell on this any longer! We've got a second floor to explore!" Jace quickly ran up the stairs, Alexis following close in pursuit.

"He's right, you know." Elena started. "About needing other players to help progress."

"Yeah I know."

"That's why... As long as I have you, I'll always be strong!" Elena smiled, and I blushed again. "Well, come on! Let's go already!" Elena grabbed my hand and dragged me up the stairs.

We met up in the inn, and got our rooms reserved, this time, we were meeting in my room.

"Now that we've cleared the first floor, I think it's time we became a guild now!"

"That's a great idea!" Alexis exclaimed.

"The only problem we have..." Jace started. "We don't have a guild name."

"Hmm..." Alexis pondered. "Since we've been focusing on keeping each other safe and alive, how about, The Silver Shield?"

"Silver Shield?" Jace repeated multiple times to get the sound of it. "I like it! What do you two think?"

"I think it's a great name!" Elena yelled.

"It's perfect for us!" I smiled.

"Then it's settled! I'll be visiting the Town of Beginnings, and setting up our guild!" Jace waved and left the room.

"I'm going to go back to my room to check on my equipment." Alexis left, shortly afterwards.

It was just Elena and myself, once again.

"Say, Jin?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know... About marriage in SAO?"

"About WHAT?!" I didn't mean to yell, but what she said honestly surprised me. "N-no... I don't."

"Well, I've learned from a few players, that when two players have a marriage, there inventories become linked, and the spouse can see the other's skills, and stats. It's truly romantic, you share everything and hide nothing." Elena was smiling while she said this.

"I-I see..." I was so surprised, I didn't exactly understand everything she told me.

"Anyway, it's nothing!" Elena smiled.

"Right..." I looked up at the ceiling.

It's crazy. I've only been here for a month, and it feels so natural now. The movements of the game, and the Sword Skills, the NPC interactions, everything. However, I know that it's more than just a game, and that the more we progress on, the harder the monsters will get, and the more dangerous the situation will be. I already thought I had lost Elena, earlier today... I don't want to feel that again.

"Guys I'm back!" Jace waved. "You should check your menu, it should have you listed that you're in a guild!" We checked our menus, and there it was. Guild: Silver Shield. "Well, we've accomplished a lot in the past month, but that was just the easy part. The real game is about to begin! We should head to bed now, and get ready for tomorrow!" Jace left, waving once more, before retiring to his room for the night, Alexis shortly behind.

"I'm going to head to bed too." Elena got up from her chair. "Goodnight, Jin." Elena walked over to the doorway.

"Goodnight, Elena." She stepped out and shut the door behind her. I quickly climbed into bed, and stared at the ceiling.

So, the game is just beginning huh? I'll do my best to protect all of you! I clenched my fist in the air, put it back down, and drifted to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

As each day flew by, I would sometimes ponder what was going on in the real world. Today, was Christmas Eve, what are my friends doing? Are some of my other friends trapped in this death game, are they spending Christmas Eve with their families, or are they currently at our hospital beds awaiting our return? Once I heard the knock on my door, I immediately shook my head of such ideas, and answered the door.

"Morning, Jin!" Elena greeted me with her normal smile. Today, to celebrate the holidays, she was wearing a short red, long sleeved, dress, with white fur on the collar and cuffs "How do I look?" She grabbed the ends of her dress, elevating it slightly.

"Very festive!" I smiled. She looked very beautiful with her brown hair tied in a ponytail. The dress was short to show off her long, slender legs. If she were trying to seduce me wearing this outfit, then she succeeded.

"Is that all you have to say?" She pouted, crossing her arms under her chest, the dress also made her bust pop out just a little more than usual, and her crossing her arms under it, only adds to the effect. Why I'm paying attention to this much detail right now, I don't know.

"Well, uh..." I rubbed the back of my head. "I'd say you look beautiful, but you always do so..." I was blushing, hoping she wouldn't catch on to what I really wanted to say. _"You're so hot!" _No, I could never say something so blunt!

Elena let out a sigh full of disappointment. "Whatever, I guess that's good enough for now." She looked away, still pouting.

"Sorry to disappoint you" I said in a low voice, looking at the ground.

Elena smiled. "Don't worry about it!" She was back to her cheerful self. "Do you know what day it is?"

"Christmas Eve, right?" I looked back up, making eye contact.

"Mhm! So... I wanted to go out!"

"Oh, you mean do some holiday grinding?"

"You sound like Jace!" She giggled. "No, I mean go out and see the town, just me and you."

I stood there for a moment, trying to process what she said. Then it hit me. "You mean like a d-date?!" I blushed as that word staggered out of my mouth.

Elena nodded. "Yes, exactly like a date! I want to spend Christmas Eve with you!"

"Uh..." I looked away, blushing deeper. "Sure."

"Great!" Elena clapped her hands in glee. "But you aren't going like that! Change into something more festive!"

"But if I wear a bunch of red, I'd look like Jace..."

Elena thought for a second. "That's true... Then just wear a winter coat, or something." I dropped down the menu, and selected a winter coat. It was a simple black coat, with white fur on the collar.

"How's this?"

"Perfect!" Elena linked her arm with mine, leaning against me. "C'mon! Let's go!"

We walked out of the inn and into the streets of the 46th floor. The sky was gray, with white flakes flowing down, covering the ground with a blanket of snow. We spent the whole day checking out the different sights on the different floors, and bought some delicious food as well. Though we checked a few weapon, and armor stores, she said that she didn't want to buy any of that right now. The sun was starting to set, the wind was getting a little harsher, and the air, colder.

Elena looked at the sky. "It's amazing, we've already been in here for over a year now!"

"Yeah, it is..." A whole year of being trapped in the game. Though I don't mind it now, I still wonder how the real world is coping with this.

"Are you okay, you seem distant?" Elena sounded worried.

I shook my head. "I was just thinking of the real world..."

"I see..." There was pause. "Well, let's not think of that right now. We're on a date!" She smiled and dragged me to the center of the town, where a giant tree stood.

"Isn't this beautiful?!" Elena gazed at the tree in awe.

"Not as beautiful as you!" I chuckled.

"Oh you!" Elena blushed, but smiled and leaned into me, resting her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her, and we stayed there for what felt like an eternity. An eternity I never wanted to end.

"Say... Jin."

"Yeah?"

"Remember the last time you held me like this?"

"Only too well..."

Elena sneezed. "I'm cold, let's go back to the inn."

"Well who's fault is it for wearing such a short dress?!" We laughed and walked back to the inn.

"About that time... When you held me. I'll never forget it."

"Yeah..." I shook my head. At times I wanted to forget.

"It's the same reason... Why we're in Japan in the first place. Why we're in this game now. Honestly... I regret none of it." She smiled. "That day..."

I nodded. "I we were up, late last night, playing a browser based MMORPG. We were talking using Skype, while playing the game when you screamed."

"Mhm. I had noticed smoke coming into my room, and when I touched the door handle, it was hot."

"As soon as you told me there was a fire, I threw down my headset, rushed into the garage to grab the latter, then sprinted out the door, to your house."

Elena smiled. "I was panicking, trying to stay close to the ground, but I was also, desperately, searching my room for something. That's when I heard your voice, cracking due to fear, telling me to climb down." Elena paused, placing her right hand to her heart. "I found the box I was looking for, and climbed down the latter."

"While you were searching for that box... I honestly thought it was too late, and when I had raised my head up to yell your name to the sky, that's when I saw you, slowly climbing down the latter, then into my arms.

"I felt safe in your arms, and the box was a momentum of my mother..."

"The next day, police reports showed that it was an intentional fire, and that my house was the next target. It also confirmed that your dad didn't make it out of the house in time... Mike contacted me that day, and told us that he had payed for a flight to Japan, and that we could live with him." I stopped and smiled. "I never did figure out his real name."

"Yeah." Elena smiled as well, wiping a tear from her eye. "When you rushed over to save me. I was really happy."

"Well, you're my friend after all! I couldn't just let you die." I was acting all cool, but in reality, I was scared to death myself.

"I knew, that you would protect me. That's why, even though we're trapped in this game, where we could actually die, I'm not afraid." Elena wrapped her arms around me. "Because I know, that you'll protect me, until the very end." She buried her face in my chest, the impact surprised me, causing me to fall onto my back, on the bed. However, Elena just stayed there, so I rubbed her back and, eventually wrapped my arms around her in return, and fell asleep in each other's arms.

I woke up the next day with Elena still in my arms. I smiled, and rubbed her back. She softly stirred a little before nuzzling her face in my chest.

"G'morning, Jin." Elena looked up to make eye contact, and smiled.

"Morning Elena." I smiled back. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept great!" She giggled. "You make a nice pillow!"

"W-What?!" I blushed and looked the other way. "I-I didn't know." I turned to make eye contact with Elena again. "Anyway, Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too!" She smiled. "Oh, check this out!" Elena opened her menu and clicked my name under her friends list, there we found a box that wasn't there before that displayed both of our names.

"What's that?"

"Whenever you become good friends with a player, but not married to them, this box will appear, which allows you to share items with them!"

"Oh! That's handy!"

"Isn't it!" She smiled.

"Then lets see if this works." I opened my menu and selected the item I got Elena for Christmas, and placed it in the box.

"Hey I got the item, what is it?" She checked the item and saw that it was a necklace.

"It's a present, put it on!" She equiped the ruby necklace, and she began to cry tears of joy.

"It's beautiful!" She put something in the box. "I got you something as well!"

I checked the shared storage, and noticed that a shield was placed inside. I clicked the shield and it was a beautiful, silver kite shield. "I love it!" I embraced Elena. "It's perfect."

We stayed like that, for what seemed like hours, before Jace walked in. "Sorry to intrude, but it's Christmas, so I wanted to go get some holiday EXP!" Elena and I looked at each other and laughed.

"What's so funny?!" Jace blushed.

"Oh nothing!" Elena smiled, getting up from the bed.

"That's right. Nothing at all." I smiled getting up myself. "Now lets go get some EXP!" We fought monsters all day, that Christmas, and we even gained a few levels. Every time the monster would be deflected by my shield, I felt a sense of warmth at my heart. Like Elena was protecting me with this shield. After I had killed another monster, I looked up at the sky, the snow kissing my face, and smiled. This was the best Christmas I've ever had.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

I lost track how many days, or weeks, that we were stuck on the 50th floor, but we've been here for a while now. Of course, rather than giving up, I took the opportunity to level up my, recently obtained skill, shields. Due to the long time being stuck, I was able to easily master my shield skill, allowing me to block the most damage within the party. I wasn't the only one who changed their layout. Jace started using Two-handed swords, becoming the best DPS (Damage Per Second) of the group. Alexis recently obtained a familiar. He was a small fiery bird, probably a phoenix, with the ability to heal Alexis for a small amount of health, but also, occasionally, being able to send a sering ball of fire towards the enemy dealing massive damage. Finally, Elena began using a rapier, to allow unmatched speed within the group. We were able to finally achieve Jace's goal, to create a balanced group that could withstand most scenarios.

Not only were we increasing our combat skills, but we increased other skills as well. Due to sheer willpower, and ignoring Elena's cries of fear, I would allow monsters to hit me in the red, before finishing them off. I lost track on the amount of times it took, but it eventually paid off giving me Battle Healing, an amazing skill that allowed me to heal a small portion of my health every second. Perfect for assuming the tanking role.

We cleared all the monsters up to the boss chamber, before we walked back into town. We've already attempted this boss many times, and we have yet to clear it. However, there was rumor of one of the top clearing guilds meeting up to clear the boss. It was a little odd considering we were fighting a boss that was already cleared. In fact I had thought that it wasn't possible to repeat bosses, yet Jace had found a glitch that had something to do with talking to the quest giver for the floor boss. I guess rumors must've spread quickly, and people wanted to see how it was done.

"Well, looks like we might finally be done with this boss from their help!" Jace had said earlier today. Now we were walking back to town, where everyone was waiting. We even caught glimpse of the Beater from before.

There was a man dressed in red and white armor, clearly in charge of the group. It reminded me of Diebel, the brave man who helped lead the group to clear the first boss. "If everyone is ready, then we'll go after the boss" With his simple command, everyone began to head towards the boss room, for the sixth, or seventh time, I forget exactly, we opened the huge double doors, and emerged in the boss room. In the middle, stood two giant clay soldiers with four arms each, carrying deadly weapons in each arm. Many players charged at the statures, only to be slashed back with tremendous force, some even dying only within two or three hits. But that didn't stop our party, as we rushed in as one unit, targeting one of the giants.

"If we're careful, we should be able to take it. Jin, I'm counting on you to make the openings for us!"

I bravely faced the giant, attacking it, only to divert his attention to me. I was in luck, as my simple division worked, and the giant slashed at me with one of his swords. I quickly parried it with my sword, slashing at the arm, hoping to disarm it, however the giant was anticipating my move, and swung hard at my blade, causing me to stagger backwards, and almost immediately to the opportunity to lung the other three blades at me. I was able to deflect two of them with my shield, but the last one made contact with my shoulder.

"JIN!" Elena screamed. I grabbed my shoulder, though in SAO you can't feel pain, the sensors still locked up the muscles in my shoulder, making it temporarily useless, as if I was just hit with that devastating attack. I checked my health bar, to see that the one sword caused me to already be in the deep yellow, borderline red.

"No way?! That one attack is all it took?!" Seeing as the giant was about to swing at me again, I focused all of my strength in my feet, and lept of the floor, barely dodging the giants wild swings, and retreating back to a safe distance.

"Here." Elena handed me a health potion, and a quickly drank it.

"It looks like," my voice was staggered from still being out of breath from that blow. "We have to at least use two people at a time, in order to deflect all four of his arms, so that we can have someone else deal damage."

"It seems like it..." Jace sounded defeated.

"Jin, can you still move your shoulder?" Alexis asked.

I tried moving my shoulder in a circular motion for a bit, satisfied that I was able to move it without any strain, I nodded.

"Good, we're obviously going to need you to help deflect the blades. But who will the second person be?" Alexis looked down to think, and the giant took his opportunity to attack.

"ALEXIS BEHIND YOU!" Elena quickly deflected the sword that was after Alexis. Angered, the giant changed targets to the rapier wilder, striking the other three blades at her. Elena parried the first one gracefully, while dodging the second one, but there was still the third to worry about.

That instant, my body reacted before I could even think, and ran in front of Elena, my shield at the predicted angle of impact. There was a sharp sound, followed by a heavy force upon the shield. Success.

"Are you alright Elena?" I asked from behind me.

"Yeah, thanks!" Elena smiled.

"We're not out of this yet!" I remarked, getting ready for another attack. I laughed to myself, realizing I sounded like Jin again.

"By the way... Wasn't there suppose to be a whole group of these players?" Jace questioned.

"Yeah, you're right, what happened to-" We turned in time to see a bunch of players on the safe side of the boss room, their appearances different from earlier. "What happened, was that some sort of illusion spell?!"

"No..." Jace sounded weak. "It was most likely some item. But right now we have bigger things to worry about." I looked toward Jace's direction and the other giant was charging us. There was a small chance that we could take care of one giant if we all worked together, but there's no way we can take care of two...

"This doesn't look good..." Alexis looked down in defeat. The fact that players would do this... Intentionally ambush us to our deaths like this?! Shaking away all my anger, I charged at the giant with all my might, first slashing it at the mid section, then swinging low under his legs. The giant was surprised by the attack but only slightly, as it began swinging all four blades wildly. It was at that moment that time seemed to slow. The first blade was coming to my upper torso, at my left side. I simply raised my shield to block the blow, the second sword was coming for the lower torso on my right side, and the third was coming for my left side, at the same time. I simply bend my knees to both lower the shield to block the attack, but to also prepare for the fourth attack. The third blade was easily parried by my sword, and the fourth attack came around. I simply released all the pressure on my legs, dashing to the left side of the giant, dodging the fourth attack. I thought I was in the clear, but then another blade was heading toward my torso. It appeared that there was enough time for the giant to regain control of the first blade by the time I had dodged the fourth. As I blocked the blade with my shield, I couldn't help but feel defeated at this point. After I had blocked the second blade, and parried the third blade, and it was time to dodge the fourth blade. This time, after I had dashed to the left again, I had executed a Sword Skill to at least deal some damage during this.

"Why are we even fighting this boss, when it's already been cleared?!" Elena yelled as she deflected the swords of the other giant.

"Because, we want to be able to get the experience for completing the quest. Because, someone, wanted to practise their Sword Skills," he paused and I heard the sound of swords clashing against each other. "we ended up missing the clearing group, so in order to get the experience points and good armor from the quest, we have to clear it ourselves!"

"I still think!" I blocked two more blades coming my way. "That only you, would be so stubborn to fight bosses that were already cleared before, just to complete the quest." I dodged another blade, dealing a little bit more damage to the giant. I finally noticed that the giants HP was slowly draining each hit. One more, and it should enter the yellow.

"That may be true..." More swords were clashing together, followed by the sound of the sword scraping against the giant's natural armor. "But at least you'll get to fight every boss!" Jace laughed.

"Even so, if we end up dying from a boss that's already been cleared," I attacked the giant, depleting his health to the yellow. "I'm haunting your soul!" I laughed.

"Deal!" Jace laughed again, as the sounds of battle continued to rattle all around the room.

Occasionally, I'd be able to get a look at how my teammates are doing while dodging the giant. They're in a much better position than I am. Considering that it was three against one over there, while I was one-maning this one. _Just as the great Heathcliff had did_. I thought to myself, but I was immediately brought back to reality, just barely parrying his sword.

"Hey, Jace!" I slashed the giant once more, his health getting closer to the red.

"Yeah, what's up?" I looked as the giant was switching attack patterns, and hit the team for quite a bit of damage.

"This item better be damn worth it!" I slashed the giant once more, after dodging another barrage of attacks, causing his health to go into the red. _This is it. _The giant began to swing more wildly now, though there were more openings, the weight of the swings were much stronger. When I went to parry the third sword, the swing was much stronger than I had anticipated, and the sword struck straight through, the blow forcing me back against the wall.

"GAH!" I clutched my shoulder again and saw my health close to the red. _If it weren't for the health potion and Battle Healing, I'd be dead right now... _I drank another potion, and charged at the giant once more. This time, I quickly deflected two of his swords, and when the other two were over his head, I had turned my body, to free my shield of the other swords, blocked the two swords, and while straining to keep the swords off me, I stabbed the giant again. His HP was at critical. The giants swings were at blinding speeds now, but all I needed was one more opening, if I can just continue to dodge and block his attacks, I can find the opening... There! The boss, for a split second, after swinging it's second and third swings, pauses long enough, to swing the fourth and first simultaneously, if I can stab him during that pause, then maybe... I had continued to dodge his attacks, and everything moved almost to a complete still. The swords moved in just the pattern I had expected, then and just the right time, I thrusted my sword in the giant's torso, one final time.

After a long pause, my sense of hearing came back to me, and I heard a loud cheer, but I listen closely to the cheering, it sounded more like cries. I looked in front of me to see my sword was still in the torso of the clay giant, but when I looked up, I saw the two blades sunk deep in the torso of a humanoid figure that stood in front of me.

That figure was Jace.

As soon as I came to the realization, I dropped my sword, and clinged to Jace, just for him, and the giant, to shatter into thousands of pieces. Then the giant words, "Congratulations" popped up, as if to mock me.

"Jace!" I stared at the empty space in my arms, where Jace was just a second ago. My entire body trembled, with fear and anger, as I raised my head to the ceiling and let out a terrible cry from the bottom of my chest.

He was gone, my comrade, no, my friend whom I entrusted my life to, died protecting me... Though Elena and Alexis were crying as well, I was in no mental state to help them, but instead continued to cry Jace's name, as if it would bring him back.

After, a long time of screaming at the ceiling, I finally lost my breath, and couldn't scream anymore. I just started to beat the floor in anger. Of course, I couldn't actually do any damage, but I was still angry at the world, at this cruel game of death, at Kayaba for trapping us in here.

I'm not sure how much time we spent in that empty room, but I was now in the inn on the 51st floor. In there, Elena and Alexis had already fallen asleep in the bed. I was left with the words that Jace and I exchanged that one day.

"I have to rely on figuring things out while on the field. Though it isn't too hard of a task, there's still the possibility of death, if we don't solve a puzzle right away, or find the certain monster's weakness in enough time... When I think of that..."

Damn-it Jace! Why'd you have to die on me!

"I'm not that great of a fighter, I'm only good for information"

These last thoughts lingered in my head...

Elena stirred from her sleep. "Jin..." She wrapped her arms around me.

"He's really gone isn't he...?" I started to tear up again.

"He is... But I think, it's because he knew, that between the four of us, you'd be the one with the highest chance of completing the game." She put her hands together and held them against her chest.

"Elena. I swear, I will protect both of you. I won't have another teammate die on me again."

Elena smiled. "Don't kick yourself too hard for this. You had no clue what would happen."

"But I-" I was interrupted with Elena rubbing her lips against mine, at first I wanted to pull back and yell at her for interrupting me, but as I closed my eyes and relaxed, the pleasure of her lips against mine overwhelmed me. Though I know that this is a virtual world, I feel as though I can actually feel her lips against mine, and in return, I start to brush mine against her's.

I don't know how long we were brushing against each other's lips, but when we finally departed, I could feel my cheeks warm with embarrassment, and when I opened my eyes, Elena, too, had a deep blush on her cheeks. She smiled, and quietly got back into bed, I made myself comfortable on the floor using a bedroll.

"Goodnight, Jin... No, James. I love you!" She hid under the blankets at the last word, as if to hid her embarrassed face more.

"I love you, too Sarah. Goodnight." I closed my eyes. So she did feel the same way I felt. Though I felt warmth in my heart, there will always be a hole that'll never go away. Jace was gone, and the only way I can accept that the fact, is when I go back to the real world, with Elena and Alexis.

"I swear, Jace, all three of us will make it back out alive!" after softly saying this to myself, hoping that Jace may have heard, I finally drifted to sleep.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

We all charged into the boss room, where the menacing boss stood before us, it was the first monster to take a, devil like form. At first glance of this boss, we were all intimidated, but that didn't stop Elena from taking the lead, attacking it with her rapier, with all her might, followed by Alexis, who took up Jace's, two-handed ability, in order to still have good DPS within the group.

I charged as well, dealing massive damage to the blue devil like creature, but it's HP only just barely fell to the yellow before swinging his massive fist to stop Alexis in mid air, followed by cleaving her in half, leaving her glowing body in the air, and finally shattering.

"ALEXIS!" Elena and I screamed as the giant blade, flung toward Elena, slicing her in half as well. "ELENA!" tears were pouring out of my eyes, my vision became blurry. All the love I had for Elena, and seeing her being killed so easily and mercilessly, was causing me to tremble, as I saw her shatter into thousands of pieces.

Out of sheer anger and willpower, I charged at the devil and begun to slash as hard as I could, trying my hardest to deal as much damage as possible, however, due to my raging my defenses were next to none, and after a few strong hits from the devil, I too, began to glow, then shatter.

I quickly sat up from my laying position, gasping for air. Normally I'd be sweating, but that isn't in this world, only the fatigue bar that can be filled by sleep, and or eating. As my eyes adjusted to the dark room, I could tell that I was in bed, and the person next to me, whom was cuddling with me before, also stirred awake from the movement, or perhaps because she could no longer feel the warmth of my body against her.

Elena got up with a yawn and stretched. "Good morning Ji-" She noticed me tremble. "What's wrong?" She had shifted positions now, wrapping her arms, gently, around my waist, and resting her head on my shoulder from behind me.

"I... I had another nightmare..." I caressed the hands that were wrapped around my waist, holding them, myself.

Elena let out a sigh" It seems you've been having these nightmares ever since we all agreed to take a break from leveling for a while... Do you think it's related?"

"I think so..." I looked down at the floor. "Because I still feel that Jace's death was my fault, so I'm avenging it by clearing this game... So by not leveling up and trying to clear... I feel guilty. Like his death was for nothing." I trembled at those last words, and Elena must have noticed, because she sat next to me now, then leaned my head towards hers so we could embrace in a kiss.

Once the kiss was broken, Elena had wrapped her arms, loosely, around my neck, and leaned in so our foreheads could touch. "If you believe that leveling up again will ease your pain. Then I'm with you, every step of the way." I smiled at Elena, and brushed my hand against her cheek.

"Geez, you two! Can't you go one day without being like this?!" I distanced myself from Elena only enough to find where the voice was coming from. In the doorway, was an upset Alexis. "Well, I heard about your decision, so let's go already!"

"Yeah, we should." I got out of bed and walked towards Alexis, Elena following close behind.

"And if you two are going to be like that so openly, you might as well marry each other!"

"M-Marry each other?!" Elena looked over to me and blushed, that's when I went up to Alexis and whispered.

"Don't ruin the surprise." I smiled, winked, and walked off towards the town.

We climbed to the current floor the clears were on, and I couldn't help but shake this feeling of worry, as the three of us took care of the monsters in the field.

"Elena..." I looked over at her. "Do you feel as if we're being... watched?"

I asked Elena this because she had the best perception within the group. She scanned around the area for a while before nodding. "Yeah, there are a few players to the west of here. We should watch our backs." Elena said as she gracefully slew another monster.

After finishing a monster myself, Elena had stopped. "Jin, behind us!" I turned around and saw a warrior with red and white armor, and a legendary shield with the sword sheathed inside. This man, could be no other than Heathcliff himself.

"Hello, Heathcliff..." I said with a calm voice.

"Hello, Jin. It seems you've already heard of me, so this should make this visit easier." He paused, "Though I heard what happened to Jace, I also know that your group has been getting very strong, and that you were able to hold off one of the giants yourself." This man showed no change in emotion as he plainly talked about Jace's death. I couldn't help but tremble at the thought of it, but that was shortly stopped by Elena grabbing my hand for support. "We realize that you are really strong, and though I know you are each in your own guild, I ask that you join the Knights of Blood Oath instead, so that we can clear this game faster!"

"KoB... The strongest guild out there..." Alexis had repeated.

"Give me time..." I finally said. "I want time to think this through."

"That is reasonable. Our base is on the 55th floor, we'll await your decision there." He walked away, leaving me only to my thoughts.

"Are we really going to join him?" Elena asked as she wrapped her arm around mine, and leaned her body against me.

"I... Think so. Jace wanted us all to be as strong as the clearing group, so joining a guild like that, might help relieve some the the guilt..." I looked up to the sky. _Is this right? _I continued thinking about it for a while. Finally, I looked back forward, where Heathcliff was, just moments ago. "Yeah... Let's join the guild."

We were in the grand entrance to the guild, and it was huge! After being guided into the room where Heathcliff was, I couldn't help but shake at how big the HQ was.

"Have you made your decision?" His low voice echoed within the HQ walls.

"I have. Our guild has been disbanded, and we wish to join the Knight of Blood Oath."

Heathcliff smiled. "Very well. You shall be guided to the guild rooms, where you will be issued your uniform. Dismissed." Heathcliff waved his hand, and two armored players escorted us to the correct rooms.

Though in SAO, all it takes is a simple press of the button to change armor, I still hesitated when putting on the white cloak, with red trim. This color was no where near close to the color of the silver shield that Elena had given me for Christmas, and to my disliking, I even had to change to a guild shield. I asked if I could keep mine instead, and they simple painted it with guild colors. Finally I walked out wearing the white armor.

"It doesn't look too bad on you, Jin!" Elena smiled. I looked at her, and the armor looked amazing on her. A white coat, like mine, followed by a red miniskirt, it fit Elena perfectly.

"If only you were here to see this..." I whispered to myself.

Once we were fully changed, we were set to go on a mission, in order to test our combat abilities. We were to clear the monsters, up to the boss, and then come back. When we met at the entrance, a fellow guild member took up our crystals, saying that we shouldn't need them.

As we traveled along the trail, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. This was the first time that I had fought without my crystals, and it wasn't an experience I ever wanted to face again. Though the monsters were easy, my main concern was a PK (Player Killer) ambush.

As a common element of MMORPG's, there are players who enjoy the challenge of killing other players, however, in the death game of SAO, where the players death led to the death of the person in the real world, one could not help but believe that PK players were murders. However, they still seem to enjoy the fact that they can PK without having to worry. It was those players, who were so full of hatred, that I kept a constant look out for.

Finally, as we reached the boss room, we stopped and the guild member clapped. "Congratulations, you three really are strong!" He went to give us back our crystals, when his body jerked forward towards us, and a blade was poking out from the other side. Then the guild member was swiftly kicked off the blade, and a PKer was in our reach.

"You Bastard! You think you can get away with this?!" I quickly drew my sword and shield with lighting speed.

"Oh but I can!" He let out an evil laugh. "That guild member has been poisoned, and all I have to do, is poison each of you!" He began to laugh like a lunatic, before lunging at me with surprising speed, however I was quicker, and bashed his body back with my sword, and attacked the PKer in the chest.

"Ohh! That was a good one! More! More! I want to fight you more!" He let out another laugh and charged at me again, this time, when I went to shield bash him, he shifted the weight to his other hand and quickly charged at Elena.

"ELENA!" I screamed and went to slash the PKer, but it was too late. His sword had already lunged forward, stabbing flesh, making them paralyzed, but it was not Elena who was stabbed, but Alexis!

"Alexis, what are you?!"

But she cut me off. "I'll be fine, just finish this guy off!" He kicked Alexis down on the floor next to the follow guild member, before turning his gaze back to me.

"This time I'll hit you for sure!" He charged at me once more and I attacked with my sword, because he was expecting another shield bash, he was left unbalanced, so I took the opportunity, and shield bashed him towards Elena, who stabbed him in the stomach.

He looked up, surprisingly calm. "So this is the end huh? Wait... NOT YET! I WON'T DIE YET!" He lunged a small dagger at Elena's stomach, causing her to be paralyzed. But he didn't stop, he continued to stab her, over and over, in as many places as he could reach. I went to slash at him but he had moved his body to dodge, where if I did swing, I would've hit Elena instead. I couldn't help but tremble as Elena's HP was rapidly decreasing, and was now in the red.

"NOOOOO!" I screamed and charged at the lunatic, this time, using my hand to pull him free of Elena's sword, then shield bashing him constantly, to get him in a daze, and finally I stabbed him in the torso, his body becoming limp against the blade, and finally shattering. "No more..." I dropped my sword, and dropped to my knees. "No more! I'm not losing another friend to this death game!" I looked up at the sky and let out a loud roar of frustration, before finally using a warp crystal to warp us all out of there.

"You did the best you could." Elena assured me with a smile.

"I know... But I thought I was going to lose you!"

"But you didn't." She brushed her lips against mine. "And that's what matters." We stayed in each other's arms for a long time. Tomorrow, I plan on continuing on with this game. If we stay up with the clearers, then the PKers wouldn't be able to get us. That was the thought that lingered in my mind, until I finally fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

_Today was not my day_ was my simple thought as I walked down the streets of the 50th floor. Though I was in the city, I wasn't allowed to wear my casual clothing, and had to continue to wear this bright colored white and red coat. Also joining the Knights of Blood Oath proved to be more tedious than we had thought. Even though there weren't any leveling quotas, one still had to be at the ready, at all times, for a message to be given from Heathcliff for a mission briefing. After spending, usually all day, doing a mission, most of the money is taken from you to distribute between the other members... However, you can keep the loot, so that's at least a plus.

Though I was used to this by now, being in this guild for over a month, today I was mad. Though I joked around when I noticed Elena and Jin being all flirty, saying that they should get married... I didn't expect them to actually proceed with it. Right now, they're enjoying their honeymoon, leaving me to do all the missions, and alone.

The more I thought I was alone, the more I hated myself for not being able to protect Jace. I immediately shook my head of those thoughts, and had slammed my fist against a nearby wall.

"Hey, you okay?" A soothing, male voice erupted from nowhere. I looked up to find the source of the sound, to find a slim looking guy, with a dark blue leather armor. His hair was a simple short, shaggy brown hair, and his face looked too kind to be taking a death game like this seriously.

_Probably just wanting to get a favor out of me._ I had thought when I answered with a nod. "Yeah I'm fine."

The boy had a questioned look, but it also had a hint of concern. "You sure? Your fist is trembling"

I had instinctively looked down at my fist, to find that it was, in fact, trembling. I hid my fist behind my back. "No really, I'm fine."

The boy just frowned... "If you say so..." He paused as if wondering what to do next before he had extended his arm. "I'm Brant, by the way."

"Alexis." I shook his hand.

"Well then, Alexis, why don't we party together for a little bit?"

I simply nodded. Immediately, Brant pulled up his menu and a the familiar notification popped up.

"Brant invites you to join his party". I pressed the blue circle, and Brant's name and HP meter appeared under mine.

Brant smiled. "By the way, I know it's rude, but if you're in the KoB, does that mean that you're with the clearing group?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I am, why?"

Brant shrugged. "Well, I'd like to level on the current floor if that was okay with you." He smiled.

"Yeah, I suppose..." I smirked. "If you can keep up."

Brant's eyes bulged, and a huge smile appeared on his face. He seem intrigued by my choice of words. "Oh, the question is, can you keep up?"

We laughed, as we teleported to the 74th floor.

We began training in the dungeon switching at the just right time to ensure safety. Brant was a dagger user, that had worked on specializing in his Agility, making him lightning quick. So even though he didn't do much damage per hit, each hit had an almost guaranteed hit chance, and he could dodge his opponents attacks with ease. It made me begin to wonder if Sword Art Online was truly balanced, or if one were to train his speed, that it would make them unstoppable.

As if reading my thoughts, Brant suddenly said as we were walking down the path, "Though I can usually dodge a lot of attacks, I can only dodge so much from so many targets, if I were to be ambushed, or aggro a mob, then I would surely be overwhelmed, and would have to run away, or die trying."

"That being said." I stated. "I can only deal a massive amount of damage, and that's only if I hit. Two-handed swords are one of the slowest weapons in SAO, sure by mastering the skill you can increase the Attacks Per Second, but it's still easily predictable, and very easy to dodge."

"Hmm" Brant began to stroke his hairless chin. "If that's how you feel... Then how about we have a duel."

"WHAT?!"

Brant pulled up his menu. "It's already getting late, and these monsters become more aggressive at night, so I think it's best to stop going down the dungeon for now, however, I want to see your skills to the best of your ability.

I nodded. "Alright, let's head back then."

We had walked down the long path for a while, before finally exiting the dungeon. I had taken a few steps forward before I was stopped.

"Why don't we make our duel interesting?"

"Interesting?... How?"

"If I win... You have to spend the with me tonight."

I began to feel a bad vibe from this person. before I had finally said, "And if I win?"

He shrugged. "You can have all the loot we acquired today, and I'll even give you a rare item."

"What item?" He pulled up his menu and showed me a very powerful two-handed sword. As I looked at the sword more, I noticed that it's Attack Rate was much higher than my current sword. "That's a really nice sword..."

"And it's yours if you win this duel." He had a genuine smile.

As great as that sword was, I couldn't help but feel that it was a trap, however, the loneliness of seeing Jin and Elena so happy together must have clouded my judgement, because I nodded. "Alright, I accept! But I won't lose that easily!"

I had pressed the circle button as the duel notification popped up, then there was the 60 second countdown, and we unsheathed our weapons.

3...2...1... I charged forward with all my might, and focused my first Sword Skill for a clean Horizontal Swipe to keep my distance from the dagger user. However, his agility and speed was much faster than my simple Sword Skill, as he gracefully ducked under the blade, and had used a Sword Skill to attack from a low position to a high. I was able to barely defend against the blow, and he jumped back.

"Not bad!" He smiled. "I'd expect nothing less from a clearer within the KoB!" But his eyes had a fierce determination, "But that wasn't close to what I'm capable of!" He had charged me again, this time to attack my side. I was able to predict his movements, and as my sword went to block his attack, a smirk had appeared on his face, and all I could do was watch as he quickly tumbled to the other side of me and attacked me at my weak spot. I let out a cry as I was pushed onto the ground by his tremendous force. Then the Winners Window popped up over his head.

"Well, that was a good fight!"

"It was!" I tried to hide my suspicions. "But it only proves my theory, that speed classes are over powered."

He let out a good laugh. "Seeing this duel I'm starting to believe it!"

"A-Anyway" I staggered, knowing it was a trap. "A bet's a bet... Lead the way!"

"Right!" He smiled and began to walk towards the housing district on the current floor.

As we entered his home, I felt a cold chill down my spine, but I knew I couldn't leave now. If what I think is true, and that is, indeed, a player with bad intentions, then if he catches on that I don't trust him... It could be disastrous. That's why, for now, it's probably best to play his game for a little while.

"This is a nice place!" I had to admit, it was a really nice place. The size and decorations could only mean that the house was very costly.

"Yes it was! It took forever for me to get the money required to buy this place, but I'm glad I did!" He smiled. "Anyway, we were training for hours, so our food is probably depleted now." As he said this, I noticed that the status did indicate that I needed food and rest in order to properly execute my Sword Skills, so I sank into the dining room chair. "What would you like?"

"I'm not very picky, so whatever you want is fine!" Brant started to work around the kitchen, and prepared a delicious meal right in front of my eyes, then poured some delicious smelling tea. The food and tea looked absolutely amazing, and I quickly took a spoonful of food, and stuffed it in my face. He started to chuckle, I gave him a weird look, but he simply shook his head.

"To see you stuff your face like that, it was too funny!"

I swallowed the food before speaking, "You should consider it a compliment, that I'm acting so "unladylike" due to your food!" We both laughed and I drank some of the tea to help wash down my next bite.

I don't know how long it took to eat dinner, but I was stuffed.

"Thanks the food was great!" Perhaps this guy wasn't so bad afterall. I could get used to eating food like this!

"No, thank you! I'm happy that you enjoyed my cooking so much!" He smiled.

"Well, I should probably message my friends to tell them the situation. If you'll excuse me. He nodded and I tried to get up, that's when my muscles tightened up, and I couldn't move from my chair.

"Wh-What's going on?!" I looked at my heath and had noticed that a yellow square on the right side of the HP meter had appeared, indicating paralysis. _I'm paralyzed?! But how? _I looked around the room to see what had caused it, and then I noticed Brant's glass of tea. It was completely untouched. "So you put paralysis poison in the tea, huh?"

Brant let out a smile, no. This wasn't the friendly smile that he had given me just before, but the smile of victory. "Very good! You're a sharp girl! And you fight amazingly too!" His voice was more high pitched now, from the sheer excitement of having captured his pray. "It's no wonder you're with the KoB! However! That's not going to help you tonight! He grabbed my hand and opened my menu, and navigated to the options tab.

"What are you doing?!" But he didn't answer, and scrolled down the options to the very end, where there was a checkmark next to "Ethics Mode" He clicked it with my hand, and a dialogue box appeared, and after reading the contents, I shook in fear.

"By turning off ethics mode, you will be allowing content such as smoking, or sexual themes or activities, is this okay?" Brant pressed yes, and had placed both hands firmly around me, picked me up, and gently laid me down on the bed. After using my hand to take off my armor and equipment, I was left with my nothing but my underwear, as Brant leaned his face towards mine. But as I fought to keep my mouth shut, a hand had touched in a spot in between my legs, it was so uncomfortable that I jumped and tried to scream. But he took that opportunity, and stuck his tongue in my mouth.

As his tongue was invading my mouth, tears was forming in my eyes, knowing that there was nothing I could do while paralyzed. Of course, Brant knew this, as he changed positions to where he was completely on top of me, and with his other hand, he began to rub my stomach, and worked his way up.

_Am I really going to lose it here... In this virtual world? _That's when the feel of my muscles came back, and I punched the man off of me. Though we were in a safe zone, his body still was slammed into the wall, and I got up from the bed, turned on ethics mode, and re-equipped myself.

"Why YOU!" A deep voice with a killing intent echoed throughout the house. He lunged onto me with another attack, but I didn't receive any damage. _Eventually, he'll try to pin me, and then I can report him for harassment._ Sure enough, Brant did just that, pushing me roughly onto the bed, and trying to get on top of me once more. This time, I was ready, and quickly pressed the circle when the Harassment Message had appeared.

In that instant, his body had glowed, and then he was gone. A forced teleport. I started to regulate my breath before returning home. Though Elena and Jin were married and bought a beautiful house on floor 61, there was another room that they said I could use 'till I got my own place.

"There you are, Alexis!" Elena had stopped cuddling with Jin, and hugged me as I entered the house. "We were so worried! You disappeared from the map! We tried sending you messages but you never responded!" She was on the verge of tears.

It was true, while in a dungeon, you don't show on the map, nor can friends give you messages. I guess they had sent me messages while I was at Brant's house, but due to what was going on, I probably didn't even notice.

"Yeah, I had partied with someone in the dungeon. But it was a lower level, so there wasn't any threats. Anyway, I'm tired and wish to go to bed... Goodnight!" With that I walked into my room and shut my door.

As I flopped onto my bed, I started to feel guilty for lying to my friends. I decided that it was best to not worry them on their honeymoon. They seemed so happy together... Why can't I find happiness...

"No. My loneliness is what got me in that mess. I'll just endure it. The only man I'll let close to me, is Jin." After saying that quietly to myself, I quickly drifted to sleep.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

My personal alarm woke me up at 7:30. I chose this time, so that I have around 30 minutes to think about the situation now, to prepare my equipment, but also, and most importantly, to be able to look at my husband while he's sleeping. Jin would sacrifice his safety long enough for me to heal myself. Though I'm so grateful he does this, I still yell at him afterwards. With the usual. "That was so dangerous, what were you thinking?! You could have died!"

With his smooth voice he'd say. "I'd rather die with you, than have you die alone!" Then he'd kiss me, and I'd be too flustered to stay mad. Though it's sweet, it's unfair because I can't do anything!

It's now 8:00, and Jin is slowly waking up. With a long yawn, he finally notices I'm right next to him.

"Morning, Elena!" Jin smiles.

"Morning Jin! Sleep well?"

Jin answered with a nod. "Yeah, I did! Did you?"

I nodded. "So, Jin, what are we doing today?"

"We've been away from the front lines for a while now. I suggest we start clearing the dungeon again."

I nod. "What about Alexis? She still seems pretty shocked from what happened the other day!"

Alexis had told us about a horrible encounter she had with a player named Brant. I couldn't help but cling to Jin as she told this horrible story, but what made me fear the most, was what Jin had said afterwards.

"So, this player had put a paralysis poison inside the drink? Interesting..." He scratched his chin. "The only way to obtain it, is to level up your alchemy skill. Though the skill can be useful, because you can make HP potions, there have been players like him, who use it to make poisons that affect other players. These players then proceed to PK with said potions. This technique is widely known with the PK guild, "Laughing Coffin"."

"PK GUILD?! I COULD HAVE DIED?!" Alexis was scared, and I couldn't blame her.

"Normally yes, but he made the mistake of inviting you into his home. Meaning that you'd be in the safe zone. He couldn't kill you, but that didn't stop him from doing... that. However, if we run into him again on the field, be very careful. We don't know what kind of tricks they'll try to play."

Shaking my head of these thoughts I asked Jin, "Are we going to run into the Laughing Coffin?"

"I doubt it... But it's still a possibility."

I nodded. "Alexis!" I called through the house.

Alexis opened her door, still half-asleep. "Yeah, what is it?"

"We're going to the dungeon to help the clearing groups. You coming with?" Jin asked.

"Why would you ask me a question like that? That's just insulting!" Alexis pouted.

"Because we might run into the "Laughing Coffin" so I wanted to be sure you were up for it."

Alexis looked worried for a minute before giving a weak nod. "If you're here to protect us, then I think I'll be okay."

"Right! Then let's go!" Jin picked me up off my feet and rushed out the door.

"Wh-What are you?!" I let out a scream.

Jin laughed. "I thought I'd carry you to the teleport gate!"

"Well warn me next time!" I was pouting, but my heart was racing.

"But then you wouldn't have had your reaction!" Jin laughed more.

Alexis smiled while keeping up with Jin's speed. "You two really are a good couple!"

"Thank you!" I smiled.

We reached the teleport gate and went to the 75th floor, where we ran to the dungeon.

The monsters were difficult, but we used the switch and were able to take care of them easily. Jin would take most of the damage, and create a point for us to attack. When Jin first did this, I'd yell at him, but then he said. "I can take more hits."

I don't know how long we were in that dungeon before we couldn't continue anymore and decided to head back. While on this floor, we all leveled up a few times. Jin had reached level 90 now. It's amazing how much EXP he's been getting.

"That was a good run!" Alexis exclaimed."

"It was! And we got some great gear too!" I smiled.

"We did. We got Alexis an awesome sword!" Jin looked at Alexis' sword. It looked badass, with fire erupting from the blade. Obviously, there isn't any magic in SAO, but it looked like it did.

"We'll be taking that loot now!" We looked toward this voice, and Alexis looked very worried.

"I-is that?" I asked Alexis. "Brant?"

"Ah, so you told them about me?" Brant started. "This makes it easier." He licked his lips. "Who's your friend? She's HOT!" I hid behind Jin.

"That..." Jin's voice was deep and cold. I never saw him like this before. "Is my wife. and you're not touching her, or Alexis you bastard!"

"So you think you can protect both of them, keep both of them to yourself?! You sir, are greedy!"

"If I have to be greedy to keep Alexis from getting hurt by bastards like you, then I'll just have to live with it!" Jin pulled out his sword.

"Oh, so we're going to fight?!" He licked his lips again, and let out a psychotic laugh. "Fine! Just me and you, and if your girls interfere... I'll take them for myself!"

Jin looked at me. "You heard the man. Let us settle this. I promise that we'll head home soon."

"Confident in your abilities?" He smirked.

"Confident enough to kick your ass!" Jin charged at Brant with his sword, readying a sword technique. Brant put his sword out, ready to dodge the low attack that was coming, but then he moved as fast as his Agility would allow him, and attacked him from behind. "Don't tell me that's all you can do?"

"Tck." Brant turned around and slashed at Jin, but Jin pushed himself back to dodge it, and slashed at his stomach. Brant's HP bar went down to yellow. He charged his sword and attacked at Jin towards his head. Jin casually deflected the attack with his shield, and shield bashed him, about three times. Brant's HP went to red, and he went to the floor.

"PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Brant begged.

"Fine..." He backed up. That's when I noticed that Brant smirked.

"NO WATCH OUT! JIN!" I screamed.

"Wha- Oof!" Brant had stabbed Jin in his stomach, and his HP slowly began to drain.

"JIIIIIINN! DON'T DIE ON ME! PLEASE!" I screamed.

"So you used dirty tricks so that I'd lower my guard huh?" Jin laughed. It wasn't his usual cheerful laugh that I was used to, but a cold laugh, filled with hatred. It made me shiver. "You'll have to do better than that!"

"Hah! Big talk for someone who's stabbed! You can only watch as your HP drops!" He laughed some more.

"So you think that I'll just give in like that?! Just because you've paralyzed me?! I don't think you get it. You're just a player in my way. I swore to myself, to avenge Jace's death, that I'd clear this death game, and allow Elena and Alexis to return to the real world. I won't let you stop me!" Jin used an antidote crystal, and pulled the sword from his stomach. "Now, to finish you!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you!" He snapped, and Alexis and I were grabbed from behind with a dagger at our throats.

"JIIIIN!" I screamed again.

"Elena! Alexis! You bastard! You can't just have a fair fight can you!"

"You've guessed it. Now, give me that sword and all money you have on you, and I might let you go. But if you lay another hand on me, I'll kill your girls... But not before we have a little fun!" He snapped and their daggers started to cut off mine, and Alexis' clothing.

"STOP!"

"Jin, it'll be okay!" Alexis said in a calm voice.

"Yeah, we'll be fine. This won't affect our real bodies anyway!" Though I said this, I was still scared. Not for my saftey, but for the safty of my beloved husband.

Jin looked down... "Fine. You can have the items and money... Just leave those two alone." Brant walked closer to Jin. Just then, Jin prepared two throwing knives, and hit both the men in the neck, causing them to let go. That's when I took out my rapier and slashed the guy repeatedly. As I continued to slash at him, his HP dropped rapidly, till it reached zero and his body shattered. I looked over at Alexis, and she took care of the guy as well. We both looked over towards Jin, and he was pinned once again.

"You bastard!" Jin spat in his face. "You're not going to get away with this!"

"Oh, but I will!" He laughed again. "Another step, and your man dies!" He put a dagger up to Jin's neck.

"NOO!" No. He can't kill Jin! Not my Jin! Is there anything... Anything we can do?!

"Elena! It's two against one. Don't let him get away!"

"But he'll kill you!" I put my hands to my chest. "I won't let you die!"

"Elena! Trust me! It'll be alright! I won't go that easily, just attack with your best ability. End it quickly, both of you!

"But-"

"DO IT!" I was scared. Though Jin's life was in danger, he yelled at me. I felt that he knew what he was doing... So I looked at Alexis, who was thinking the same thing, before she nodded. I nodded back and we charged at our enemy, Brant. We both used our strongest Sword Skills, and his HP depleted to Zero and shattered, but he left behind a dagger that was in Jin's neck.

"JIIN!" His HP depleted to zero. "NOOOOO! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME JIN! I can't... I CAN'T CONTINUE ON WITHOUT YOU! JIN!" His body glowed blue. It was time for him to go. Just then, when he was about to shatter, a small gem appeared from our shared inventory. It glowed in front of Jin, and shattered. That's when his body stopped glowing, and his HP was back to 20%.

Jin opened his eyes. "That was not fun..."

"JIIN!" I gave him a giant squeeze. "I thought you were dead!"

"It was a holiday event. Kirito informed me about it. If you use it within the first ten seconds after a player's health becomes zero, it revives the player. However he said he had gave it to a friend of his named Klein. After talking with him about what happened to Jace... He gave the item to me after he had me swear to protect you two with my life." Jin paused before continuing, "He said it was a 'one time use', so I wanted to be sure that it wouldn't be wasted. I would have used it earlier, but both of you were captured and I didn't want the possibility of losing one of you. That's why, when he had me pinned, and it was just one death, I knew it'd be alright." He smiled, then kissed me. I was so happy, tears were flowing from my eyes as I kissed my love back. "I'm sorry I didn't let you know. I feared that if he had caught on, it wouldn't have worked..."

"No. It's okay." I shook my head. "You did what you had to do, and I'm grateful for it!

"Right. Let's head home!" Jin grabbed my hand and we teleported using crystals. Though it was a waste of money, we obviously didn't care. We just wanted us to get home safely.

That night, when I was cuddling with Jin, he got a message. When Jin answered it, he looked worried.

"Are you okay?" I rubbed his chest.

"That was Heathcliff. He said we're fighting the boss of the 75th floor tomorrow morning."

"I see..."

"And considering the pattern... Every 25th floor has been much harder than the previous... I fear for our safety."

"We'll just have to be careful!" I snuggled against Jin.

"Yeah. We will." He rubbed my back. "Goodnight. Elena!"

"Goodnight Jin!" I slowly closed my eyes, and fell asleep in my love's arms.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

I woke up to another nightmare, of everyone getting wiped. I've noticed that the nightmares are more frequent now, but when I wake up, I see Elena sleeping peacefully next to me. Seeing this, is the only thing I need to ensure that it was just a dream, and go back to sleep. Finally, my alarm woke me up, at around 8:00.

"Did you have another restless night?" Elena wrapped her arms around me, as she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah... I did."

She sighed. "You've been getting those more often lately... I'm starting to worry!"

I brushed my lips against hers. "Don't be. This only happens when we haven't been clearing dungeons, or when we're about to face a boss." Though I said this, I was worried myself. This was the 75th boss. We've all noticed the pattern of every 25th floor being much tougher than the ones below it.

"Yeah, I guess you're right... Do you want some breakfast?" Elena smiled.

"Of course!" I laughed and climbed out of bed.

After a warm breakfast, and a friendly chat with Elena and Alexis, it was time to head out. We all equipped our best armor and weapons, as well as had plenty of health crystals, and potions to use. After we were sure that everything was in order, we rushed to the teleport gate, and teleported to the 75th floor.

When we arrived, we noticed that other big groups were here as well. As I continued to look around for Heathcliff, I noticed a familiar looking player. But I couldn't quite remember. He was wearing a simple black leather coat, and carried two swords sheathed to his back... Wait, two swords?

"Isn't that Kirito? The Beater?" Elena asked.

"That IS him!" Alexis exclaimed. "And he's with Asuna the Flash!" Of course we knew Asuna, she was our second in command, and very beautiful. Not just with her appearance, but she is also graceful with the rapier. Needless to say, she's become the target of many men.

"I heard that they took a leave a little after we did" Elena said, as she wrapped her arm around mine. I looked around and saw a lot of disappointed guys, so she probably clinged to me to signal that she wasn't single.

"But why did they leave, though?" I began to think about it... We left, because I wasn't stable enough to continue clearing, due to the loss of Jace. But Elena helped me pull through, and we eventually married. That caused us to stay out for another few weeks to enjoy our time together... _But why did they leave?_ As I continued to ask these mental questions, a group of elite looking players walked down the middle. Their leader, was none other than Heathcliff.

"Is everyone ready?" His deep voice bellowed to the players. All the players, including myself, and our party, nodded. "Then let us begin!" He held out a big dark blue crystal. These were "gate" crystals. You set them to a specific place, and you can teleport back to that point from anywhere. This one probably led to the end of the dungeon. Once the gate was opened, everyone walked inside.

After the usual teleport sequence, I found myself looking at a huge pair of double doors, with ancient looking architecture supporting the dungeon walls and ceiling. It gave an eerie feeling. Elena felt this too, and squeezed my hand.

"It's alright. We can do this!" I smiled, but quickly looked down. This would be difficult, especially because of what Heathcliff had told us.

"We sent a group of 20 players to scout the boss for us. 10 went into the middle, but the boss never showed. Then, the doors shut, leaving the 10 that remained on the other side. After 5 long minutes, the doors opened again, and neither the players, nor the boss, could be seen inside."

In other words... We have no idea what kind of techniques this boss may have. This is the first boss, where we're walking in blind.

"Judging on what Heathcliff said, I don't think they could teleport out..." Alexis looked down.

"No, ever since the 67th floor, all the boss rooms had "Anti-crystal" traps." Elena looked down as well.

"I know... This doesn't look very promising, but we have to try! We have to live, not just for us, but for Jace!" My heart was racing as I said this. I mainly told this to hell calm myself down, but it seemed to get Elena and Alexis excited for the boss as well.

"Right! Let's do our best!" Elena started walking forward, and I followed. The huge double doors opened, and we all charged into the middle.

"Huh? No boss?" We all looked around, trying to find the boss. Then we heard a loud slam. I looked towards the doors, to see that they vanished.

"If the doors are gone, then the boss should appear soon. Keep your eyes open." I explained to my team. That's when-

"Above us!" This cry came from Asuna, we all looked up, to see a giant centipede, with bones for it's structure, swing down from the ceiling, it's front legs the shape of scythes.

"Everyone, get back!" Heathcliff commanded, and we all scattered away from the middle. Sadly, two players were too slow, and were slashed in the middle, shattering before even reaching us.

"No way?! Only one hit!" _This didn't look good at all._

More players charged at the boss monster, only to be slashed in one sweep, killing two, three, players at a time. However, as a scythe went to attack Heathcliff, he simply blocked it with his shield. Then, Asuna and Kirito worked together to block the second one with their swords at the same time.

"Everyone, we have the scythes, you go after the rest of the body" We all charged and sent rapid attacks at the boss. Even though they had the scythes taken care of, we still had to worry about that tail. There were a few times where I had to leap in front of Elena or Alexis in order to block the tail with my shield. Even then, the blow would be powerful enough to knock me back a few feet. However, after a long time of hacking and slashing at the boss, it's health finally reached critical, and it couldn't attack anymore. We took this opportunity to attack with everything we had in order to prevent it from healing, and finally the boss was defeated.

Everyone sank to their knees, completely exhausted. I checked the time, and noticed that the boss fight took hours. _This definitely had the "close to end boss" feel to it._ Only one man was still standing before the rest. Heathcliff, whose health was still at the green, border lined yellow.

"You guys... Alright?" I asked Elena and Alexis.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alexis said.

Elena nodded and went over to me, and layed down next to me. "I'm good as well."

"How many people did we lose?" A man, I knew to be Agil had asked.

Kirito pulled out the map and added up the amount of players remaining. "14" he finally said.

"That's crazy! And we still have another 25 floors to go?! Can we even finish this game!" This player brought a good point. If we had lost this many on this floor, imagine how much we'd lose on the next coming floors. No, at this rate, the whole clearing team would be wiped out completely, or would have to stop clearing to assist the mid levels to clearing status. But that would probably take another month or two, for the diligent ones... It looked hopeless.

"James... It's okay. We'll get out!" Elena held my trembling hand with hers, giving me strength.

I nodded. "Yeah we will..." I let out a long sigh, then started thinking about how to level up the average players when I noticed Kirito charging at Heathcliff with blinding speed and slashing Heathcliff.

_What was he THINKING?! Trying to kill him he's-_ I wasn't sure what had happened. Kirito was pushed back by an invisible force, and the "immortal object" appeared over him. _What's going on?!_

That's when Kirito explained that Heathcliff was actually Kayaba. In return Kayaba opened a window, and I couldn't move. I looked at my health and noticed I was under paralysis.

"Yes. I'm Kayaba, and was suppose to be the last boss, waiting at the Jade castle, on the 100th floor. However, because I was figured out, I shall head there now. But first. I must reward you for figuring out my identity. I'll give you a chance. You can continue on, or we can duel. If you win, you clear the game, and everyone goes home"

Kirito went over to Asuna, and said something, but I couldn't remember, then went to Heathcliff. "I accept your challenge in one condition. If I die, please don't allow Asune to commit suicide for a little while!"

"Kirito, you CAN'T!" Asuna screamed.

"James... I know how she feels..." Elena was making eye contact with me through the paralysis. "If something had happened to you, and you died... I wouldn't be able to continue on, and would kill myself. You're the reason I can continue fighting. You're the reason I'm here today! If you left... There would be no reason for me to continue myself..." Tears formed in Elena's eyes.

"Elena!" I don't know how, but I was able to move my arms and face to passionately kiss Elena, even though I was under the paralysis. I don't know how long we kissed, but when we stopped, we had our arms wrapped around each other, and stayed like that.

Heathcliff turned himself back to a killable target, and set both of their HP to about 30%. Meaning, one solid hit, would win the match. Kirito charged at Heathcliff, attacking with everything he had. Slashing attack after attack. It was so fast, that I couldn't even catch up with my eyes, yet Heathcliff, no Kayaba, was able to block every blow like it was nothing. As if he already knew... Of course! Kayaba created the system and sword skills, so he'd know how to block every one one them! Finally Kirito's long lashes of attacks ended with a heavy hit to the shield, breaking the sword on his left, and leaving him wide open for Kayaba's attack. Kayaba knew this, and took a slash at Kirito-

Only to hit Asuna, who had jumped in the way. I don't know what was said... But I could tell it was sad, as Asuna shattered into thousands of pieces. Elena had stiffened up even more, somehow, and I was able to move my arm to rub her back, before being stuck again.

Kirito got up, picking up Asuna's rapier, and weakly slashed at Kayaba. _Poor Kirito... Asuna must have been someone he truly had loved and cared for... Now that she's gone, he has lost the spirit to continue on..._ Kayaba slashed the sword out of Kirito's right hand, and stabbed him in the stomach. I could only watch as his HP depleted to zero, and watch, waiting for his body to shatter. However, that wasn't the case. Somehow, he lunged himself forward, and stabbed Kayaba's stomach as well. Finally the fight ended with both of their bodies being shattered together.

There was no rejoice with this victory. Only remorse for the players, no, for the people who had lost their lives. Not only today, but for the many who died playing this game. Including Jace...

Elena was able to move again, yet she continued to cling against me, even Alexis had wrapped her arms around us at this point. "We're going home, aren't we?" Elena asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "We're going home!"

The loud bell that we heard in the beginning of the game, had gone off again. This time we heard a female voice. "November 7th 2:55 PM, 2024 The game has been cleared!" Then there was a blinding white light.


	12. Epolouge

**Epilogue**

I awoke looking at a white tiled ceiling, I looked around me, and noticed that the same, plain white, was all around. I swiped my hand to open the menu, it didn't open. I tried once more, it still never opened. _Am I finally out?_ I placed both hands on my head, to feel a cold metallic surface. _The NerveGear. I was back in the real world._ I took off my NerveGear, and noticed the hospital gown sitting in a chair next to me. Realizing I wasn't wearing anything, I got up to put on the gown, and noticed just how weak my body really was. Even the simplest movement was getting out of bed, seemed like it took all my energy, however I got up, and donned myself in the gown.

Once I had the gown on, I sat down in the chair next to the bed. I was way too weak to do anything, that's when I heard the door open. "It's true! This one's back as well!" I guess they were talking about the game.

"Excuse me? Are Sarah, and Ashley here?" I asked the nurse.

"Why yes, and they both asked for you too! Here, I'll take you there." She helped me into a wheelchair and wheeled me over to where my friends were waiting. They looked so different, but it really was them. I was so happy I started to cry.

It's been a month since the death game was cleared. We've all been in rehabilitation in order to strengthen muscles that have been neglected for over two years. Today, I could finally be on my feet, but I couldn't run just yet.

"Jace! I can't believe we're walking now! Ashley smiled. "Hey, Sarah! Slow down!" I noticed Sarah trying her best to fast walk towards me. I decided to walk towards her to help.

"Did you hear?" Sarah had asked after giving me a kiss and wrapping her arms around me. "They built a school for the people who were trapped in the game!"

"Yeah! I did hear about that! I honestly can't wait. Not only are we going to school again, but it's with the people we fought with for over two years."

Sarah just smiles. "I can't wait either."

The days rolled to weeks, and it was my first Christmas back in the real world. By this time, I could move my body completely, and was cuddling with my love.

Something changed between all of us. After we were completely recovered, we all became more confident with not only each other, but with other people. Sarah, who would always cling to me whenever in the presence of another person, is now the first to greet and start a conversation. Even Ashley, who was ashamed of being a gamer, was showing off to a couple of guys on how amazing she was. I think, that they had merged with the characters they were for those long two years.

No, they were them all along, but only now are they showing it.

It was January now, the start of the new year. We all started attending classes, and I saw my old friends in a different perspective, yet something was odd. I met Kirito (Kazuto) but he wasn't with Asuna. I had asked him about it, but he just shrugged his shoulders. I walked out of the classroom and saw Ashley with a member of the technology club.

"Anyway..." the boy stammered. "I was wondering if you'd like to go out somewhere?" I just stood and watched. I didn't want to say anything, yet I was afraid that if I moved, she'd notice.

Ashley smiled. "Sure! But in one condition."

She leaned in, inches away from the boy, who began to sweat and gulped. "Y-yes?" The boy responded.

"I don't want anything too expensive or too fancy, and we're playing a game afterwards." She smiles backing up from his face. _To see her so forward is surprising._ I let out a small chuckle.

"O-of course!" The boy smiled. "So... I'll pick you up at six?"

"Sounds good. Until then!" Ashley waved. The boy waved back and walked away smiling.

"To see you so forward is surprising!" I say leaning up against the wall. "You sure made his day!"

"Th-that's pretty embarrassing you know!" She blushes a bit. "Anyway, as much as I loved Mike, I realized that he wants me to be happy..." looks away, her lip quivering. "So that's what I'm trying to do." She takes a deep breath and calms down. "Anyway, see ya later, James!" She walks away, smiling. "Oh, before I forget, we were all suppose to meet up with Agil tonight at the Dicey Cafe. I can't be there tonight for obvious reasons, so you two better be there!" She winked and ran off.

I smile as I head down the halls. Eventually I make it to the bench outside where Sarah was waiting for me. Being dressed in the school uniform instead of her usual clothing is a nice sight. "Yo." She looks up and I wave.

"Ah! James! Come here." She pats the seat next to me, and I sit down. "So, how was your day?" she leans on my shoulder

"It was good. Actually a bit surprising. Ashley has a date tonight."

"Really?!" She was surprised. To be honest, so was I.

"Really." I nodded. "Also, Agil wants us to meet him over at his bar tonight."

"I see... I wonder what it'll be about. *she closes her eyes and relaxes*

It was later that day, and we only had a few minutes before it was time to meet up with Agil. "Gah! Hurry up! It's not like we're going on a date!" I tap my foot.

"I'm going out in public, so I still need to look good, you know!" A very annoyed Sarah replies.

"Yeah, yeah! Excuses excuses..." I look at my watch, then the door, then my watch again.

"Oh? Are you complaining? Then I guess you can make your own lunch tomorrow!" She laughs.

"NO NO! I'm sorry!" She got me. Her cooking is amazing! "Please, take your time!"

"I thought so!" She walks out and kisses me. "Actually I was ready about five minutes ago. I just wanted to see your reaction!" She laughs again.

"But that went too far! You make the best lunches!" I was practically shouting, yet smiling the whole time.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She says jokingly. "Tell you what, I'll make it up to you tonight!" She kisses me and winks.

"O-oh!" Blushes realizing her intentions. "Y-yeah. That'll do!" If I recall correctly, Sarah's been even more forward after her 18th birthday, which was a few months after mine.

"Anyway! Let's go!" Sarah links her arm in mine and we walk to the Dicey Cafe. The laughing and talking the whole time. Once we reached the door we walked in, the bells rung and Agil greeted us.

"Where's Alexis?" All of us had a hard time calling us by our real names, so we still call each other by our gamertags. Hence why he's Agil.

"She's busy tonight." I stated.

"It's not like her to miss something like this!" He laughs. "Must be important. Anyway doesn't matter. Alexis has informed me that you two were married in SAO." We both nodded. "Well consider this as a late gift to both of you. Alexis helped with most of the cost."

He handed us to golden rings, along with a game. ALFheim online. "What?! Another Full Dive game?!"

"Yes. This uses the new AmuSphere which is uses less power and has much more safety locks in order to prevent the SAO incident from happening again. And the game is the MMO that was released with it."

"All this for us?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. This was all Alexis' idea. She thought you'd like the ability to fly, and the magic capability."

"Magic!" Sarah's eyes gleam. It's true, she LOVED magic. So she was excited for being able to use it again.

"Anyway, that was all. Alexis has her own too, so ask her if you have any problems. Later!" He waved and we left, practically running home.

So Alexis has one too... I couldn't help but remember what she had said. "We're playing a game afterwards" could she have meant this?

"Ready James?" She hooked herself to the AmuSphere.

"Just a second" I looked up at the ceiling. We're diving in another game, huh? I smile. We couldn't have gotten this far without you man. "Rest in peace, Jace." I said quietly to myself as I hook myself up to the AmuSphere. "Link Start!"


	13. Author's Notes

**Author's notes**

Wow! Though this was only a FanFiction, I still feel absolutely great! This is my first story that I was able to actually complete! I know that's a little sad, considering that I'm almost 18, but it's the truth.

When I began writing, I absolutely loved it. Though writing in school was always a chore, I still appreciated the times where we could write about our own topics, or simply when I would write whenever I had the time in class. Though I always spend time writing, I would always get a bad case of writer's block, and would never be able to finish any stories.

So, in order to cope with writer's block, I thought _Why not base it off of something that's already been done, so that you don't have to make everything from scratch_? At first, I wasn't sure of the idea. The reason being, I could never find a good reason to make a FanFiction, nor could I find a setting where I could add in some characters without making a drastic difference. That's when I came across Sword Art Online. With over 10,000 players, and us only learning about 20 of them, I could easily give life to four of the previously unnamed characters, and so, James, Elena, Alexis, and Jace, were created.

Will I create the sequel with ALFheim Online? Probably not. Considering that Kirito was the only one who actually had someone to save. Everyone else just simply had fun. I know, I could just have Elena or Alexi be one of the 300 who were kept, but I didn't want to copy everything about the plot. So to prevent me just basically retelling the story of ALFheim. I've decided against it. However, I might make the GGO sequel, but if I do, I'll wait till after season airs. That way, I won't have to worry about spoilers to people who haven't read the light novels, which I highly recommend doing so.

Finally, a big thanks to my friends, and family, who supported, and encouraged me, to make my FanFiction. I never thought it would be this much fun, and would have never done this without your influence, and a many thanks to everyone who read my story to the very end!

~Yoshida Eiji


End file.
